
***** '•^|§R ; * ^ vBS^*' **°** •'f 


















% *> 





,0*. .--♦-% /\^-*/ 

^va % -*<& **' •* *•• u y •<&&• °** 












* °- -.« 



r.^ 



♦«T7i» ,* 



• 4? 












IFMMLiHIP W<&WWW2lW(&!M 9 W»Wo 



MEMOIK 



OF THE 



LIFE, CHARACTER, AND WRITINGS 



OF 



PHILIP DODDEIDGE, D. D. 



WITH 



A SELECTION FROM HIS CORRESPONDENCE. 



COMPILED 

\ ,. y 



BY REV. JAMES R. BOYD, A.M., 

EDITOR OF ENGLISH POETS, WITH NOTES, ETC. 



PUBLISHED BY THE I « ; * 



AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY, 

ET, NE 1 



' 150 NASSAU-STREET, NEW YORK 



jfa^ J /■//&/ 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1860, by the American 
Tract Society, in the- Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern 
District of New York. 






w h 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 



DODDRIDGE'S ANCESTRY AND EARLY YEARS. 

His grandfather and father — His mother the orphan daughter of a 
Bohemian refugee — Rev. John Baumann — His flight to England 
— Beautiful incident of his childhood — His grammar-school train- 
ing — Early loss of both parents — Attendance at school in St. 
Albans — Profession of religion — Resolves to, study for the min- 
istry — Serious obstacle interposed — Declines the offer of a uni- 
versity education — Dr. Calamy's advice — Proposal to study law — 
Generous assistance of Dr. Clarke of St. Albans — Remarks of Rev. 
J. Stoughton — Doddridge' s acknowledgment 11 

CHAPTER II. 

DODDRIDGE'S THEOLOGICAL STUDIES. 

Enters on theological studies at Dr. Jennings' academy — Method of 
reading and study at Kibworth — Letter to Rev. Samuel Clarke — 
To Mr. Hughes — Great regard to the Scriptures — Rules for his 
conduct — Social temper— Remarks of Mrs. Doddridge — His first 
sermon — Social position and theological training — Description 
of his study — First pulpit performances — Examination of stu- 
dents — His gentlemanly bearing and reciprocation of kindness — 
Pious reflections —School expenses — Examination for licensure 
— Habit of strict economy — His gown — Dr. Samuel Clarke's 
advice — Grateful acknowledgments to Dr. Clarke — His abode 
near Kibworth — Farm-house life — Want of congenial society — 
Longing for his sister's recovery and society — Letter to Mr. Da- 
vid Some — Account of his studies — Foundation of the Family 
Expositor — Remarks on the method of studying — Observations 
on Baxter — Rules for ministerial duties at Kibworth — A gentle 
reproof — Pope's Homer's Iliad — Remarkable deliverance — De- 
tails of classical studies — Pliny's Epistles — Laconic letter to 
Dr. N. Wood — Expressions of ardent friendship — Remarks on 
Pliny and Addison — Daily labors and pleasures as a student 



4 CONTENTS. 

— A striking characteristic — The vanity of human desires — 
Dependence on divine influence — Desires to learn every new 
phase of infidelity — Burnet's History of the Reformation — Criti- 
cism on a sermon desired — Burnet, Lucretius, and Howe — Reflec- 
tions on the death of Mr. Some — Complaint of his own pride — 
Rev. Thomas Saunders — Proposal to become an academical in- 
structor — Letter to Miss Horseman — Correspondence with Mr. 
Whittingham on the Deistical Question — Mr. Jennings' method 
of education — Habits as a preacher — Conscientiousness in mak- 
ing the most of time - 22 

CHAPTER III. 

INSTITUTION OF DODDRIDGE'S THEOLOGICAL 
ACADEMY —EARLY PASTORATE AT NORTH- 
AMPTON. 

Death of Dr. Jennings — Letter of Dr. Isaac Watts in favor of Dod- 
dridge — His appointment — Correspondence — Letter of accept- 
ance — Removal to Northampton — Days of special devotion — His 
ordination and installation — Letter to Miss King — Domestic life 
— His marriage to Miss Mercy Maris — Letter to Dr. Watts — 
Letters illustrating his paternal tenderness — Death of his eldest 
child — Letters to Mrs. Doddridge — Persecution of Doddridge — 
His visit to Cambridge — Complimentary letter of Dr. Warburton 
— Favorable reception by a synod at Exeter — Solicitude for his 
wife's recovery — His devotional feelings — A communion Sabbath 
— Thoughts on the anniversary of his birth — Birthday letter 
to Miss Doddridge — Kind counsels — His tenderness as a husband 
— Education of his children — Demeanor towards his servants — 
His character as a friend — Honor bestowed on him by his friends 
— Methods in which his friendship was displayed — Letters illus- 
trative of friendship — His conversational powers — Dr. Abraham 
Taylor — Doddridge's happy administration of reproof 113 

CHAPTER IV. 

DODDRIDGE'S MINISTRY AT NORTHAMPTON. 

Northampton a sort of Mecca — Doddridge visits the families of his 
congregation — Pulpit preparation— Favorite topics — Wide range 
of subjects— Popularity and usefulness accounted for — His excel- 
lent temper — Derives lessons from the providence of God — Be- 
fore sermon expounds a portion of Scripture — Affecting anecdote 
— Composition of hymns — Expository lectures — Sacramental sea- 



CONTENTS. 5 

sons— Power as a preacher— Faithfulness in Christian discipline 
—Special care for children— Zeal for religion at home and abroad 
— Pastoral visitation — Case of Connell the prisoner — His pastoral 

labors Mr. Williams — Letter of Mr. Pearsall on the reputation 

of Dr. Doddridge — Appoints an eldership— Letter of instruction 
—Establishes a charity school — Earnest self-culture— His services 
appreciated— Faithful love to his people— Extract from his last 
will — Letters presenting him as a model pastor — Letter to Rev. 
Samuel Wood— Correspondence with Miss Scott— Her marriage 
and death - 188 

CHAPTER V. 

DR. DODDRIDGE'S ACADEMICAL AND THEOLOG- 
ICAL INSTRUCTIONS. 

Prosecution for teaching without a license— His fame at court- 
Letters on the prosecution— Method of education— The place for 
literature and science— Courtesy towards his students— Care that 
they might be good men— Letters to parents — Mr. Coward — 
Religious culture of his students— Secures their confidence and 
affection— Degree of Doctor of Divinity— Letter to Dr. Samuel 
Clarke— Letter to Rev. B. Fawcett— Trouble occasioned by stu- 
dents who were not pious— His affection to his students— Model 
of earnest and laborious diligence— Sketch from the North Brit- 
ish Review - 269 

CHAPTER VI. 

DODDRIDGE AS AN AUTHOR. 

Diligent in pursuit of knowledge, and apt in communicating it- 
Classical literature — Theological investigations and writing— 
" Thoughts on the best means of reviving the Dissenting Inter- 
est"— His published sermons— Favorable criticisms— Bishop 
Warburton— "Discourses on Regeneration"— West and Lyttel- 
ton— Dr. Watts' criticisms— John Foster's estimate of "Rise and 
Progress of Religion in the Soul"— Dr. Watts' agency in it— Let- 
ters relating to this work— Its beneficial influence— Sir James 
Stonehouse— " Remarkable Passages in the Life of Col. James 
Gardiner"— Sketch from North British Review— Letter from 
Col. Gardiner— His extraordinary story— Letter to David Gardi- 
ner— Letter from Lady Frances Gardiner— Col. Gardiner— Thomas 
Gardiner— Letters on Doddridge's Life of Gardiner— " The Fam- 
ily Expositor "—Its preparation and publication— Its escape from 



6 CONTENTS. 

fire — Letter to Rev. S. Wood — Criticisms — Letters appreciative of 
it — Interest for the aborigines of America — Archbishop Leigh- 
ton's works — Hymns — Dr. Watts' estimate of Doddridge — 
Stoughton's views — 317 

CHAPTER VII. 

PROMINENT TRAITS OF DR. DODDRIDGE. 

I. Untiring application to the duties of life — Rules of life — Review of a 
year — Economy of time — Large correspondence — His method of 
relaxation. II. Candor and kindness — Conduct towards members 
of the Established church — Not blind to the errors of Popery. 

III. Good influence beyond his own congregation — Missionary spirit — 
Lively interest in the labors of Whiterield and of Lady Hunting- 
ton — Letters of Lady Huntington — Account of her in a letter to 
Mr. Fawcett — Count Zinzendorf— Aid to the Protestants of France. 

IV. Benevolence, courtesy, and public spirit — Too favorable estimate 
of others — Free from a covetous spirit — Liberal in his hospitali- 
ties — An almoner of the rich — Loyalty and patriotic exertions 
in 1745 — Gratuitous education of many — Sympathy for persons 
in adversity. V. Exemplary conduct under ill treatment. VI. Humil- 
ity and dependence on God-— Favorable estimate of others. VII. Pa- 
tience, fortitude, and cheerfulness under affliction — Sufferings through 
relatives and other friends. VIII. Eminently devotional character — 
Spiritual meditation — Efficacy of prayer — Days of devotion — 
Devout social intercourse — Pious spirit of his correspondence — 
His spirituality even in dreams 386 

CHAPTER VIII. 

THE LAST DAYS OF DODDRIDGE. 

His last funeral-sermon — Last administration of the Lord's supper 
— Last sermon — Last public service — Sympathy in his illness — 
Hot Wells of Bristol — Kind reception — Failing strength — Pro- 
posal of a voyage to Lisbon — Evidences of sympathy — Patience 
and cheerfulness — His last journey — Last letter in England — 
Embarkation for Lisbon — Kind entertainment there — His last 
hours — His burial — Monuments — His personal appearance — Mr. 
Tayler — Letter of Mrs. Doddridge to her children — Poem to his 
memory — President Davies — Dr. Doddridge's family — Lines writ- 
ten in his study 439 



The Memoirs of the Life, Character, and Writings 
of Dr. Doddridge, presented in this volume, have 
been drawn from the five volumes of his Corre- 
spondence and diary, copied from his own manu- 
scripts, and first published in London in 1831 ; from 
his life as written by Orton and by Kippis, two of 
his endeared students ; from the Centenary Memorial 
prepared by the Rev. John Stoughton, and partly 
delivered before the Congregational Union from 
Doddridge's own pulpit in 1852; from a splendid 
article of the Eev. Dr. Hamilton in the North 
British Review, and from other sources. 

The wide-spread and deserved reputation of Dr. 
Doddridge as a writer and as a Christian, especially 
by means of his " Family Expositor," and his " Rise 
and Progress of Religion in the Soul," naturally 
awakens a desire to become more acquainted with 
him through his Correspondence, in which, not only 
in the letters he wrote, but in those addressed to 
him, we discover those admirable qualities of mind 
and heart, those high attainments and benevolent 



8 PREFACE. 

activities, which made him so generally respected 
in life, so extensively honored at death, and now so 
gratefully remembered, even after the lapse of a cen- 
tury. 

The Letters found in this volume will compare 
favorably, in point of style, with those of Pope, 
Gray, and others of about the same period, while in 
sentiment they commend themselves with surpassing 
interest to the pious and thoughtful mind. They are 
given as choice selections from the mass of Dod- 
dridge's Correspondence, which constitutes the great- 
er part of the five large volumes above noticed, 
edited by his great-grandson John Doddridge Hum- 
phreys, Esq.; and they are here inserted in such con- 
nections as render them illustrative and commemo- 
rative of the public and private life, opinions, and 
character of the distinguished and excellent author. 
Among his correspondents were several gentlemen 
of high rank in social, literary, and theological cir- 
cles, and some talented and estimable ladies, whose 
letters will be read with great satisfaction. 

The view which this Correspondence gives of the 
Christian household, as illustrated in the home of 
Doddridge, is calculated to elevate the aims, purify 
the life, and promote the happiness of those who 
would enjoy the highest blessings of the family 
circle; the light which it throws upon his pro- 



PREFACE. 9 

fessional character as a theological instructor, and 
as a pastor, must interest those fulfilling the duties 
of these stations, or who have them in prospect; 
while the happy illustrations of religious character 
and experience are adapted to profit all classes of 
persons: to comfort the afflicted, to guide the per- 
plexed, to animate the negligent or desponding, and 
assist all in fulfilling the responsibilities of life, and 
preparing for the heavenly state. The letters of 
sympathy addressed to Dr. Doddridge and his lady 
in the trying season preceding his death, when ex- 
treme anxiety pervaded the hearts of God's people 
in city and country, are among the most touching to 
be found in the annals of friendship. 

The influence of Dr. Doddridge, like that of Dr. 
Watts, in promoting the great revival of the work of 
God towards the middle of the last century, in which 
Whitefield and others bore so conspicuous a part, 
will here be seen to have been great and salutary, in 
the calm evangelical light which, in a period of pro- 
found spiritual darkness, God enabled him to spread 
far and wide by his publications, his theological in- 
structions, his correspondence, his personal influence 
as a pastor and counsellor, and his bright and holy 
example. 

It is a curious fact that of almost all his Corre- 
spondence, he kept an accurate copy in shorthand, 



10 PREFACE. 

filling three manuscript volumes, from which the 
five London volumes above referred to are printed. 
From these and other voluminous materials exam- 
ined, only those select and condensed portions are 
here given which are believed to be adapted to pub- 
lic and general interest and usefulness. 

J# R. B. 



MEMOIK 



OF 



PHILIP DODDRIDGE, D, D. 



CHAPTER I. 

HIS ANCESTRY AND EARLY YEARS. 

At a remote period, tlie Doddridge family occupied 
a prominent position in Devonshire. Sir John Dod- 
dridge distinguished himself by his learning, his abil- 
ity as a jurist, and as an author, and occupied with 
credit the high positions to which he was elevated by 
James the First. The nephew and heir of this gen- 
tleman, and bearing the same name, was Recorder of 
the ancient city of Bristol, and for many years a 
prominent member of the Long Parliament. His 
cousin, the Rev. John Doddridge of Shepperton, in 
Middlesex, a learned and acceptable preacher, vol- 
untarily deprived himself and his large family of a 
living worth about two hundred pounds a year, 
equivalent to more than twice that amount at the 
present day, rather than submit to the tyrannical 



12 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

requisitions of the Act of Uniformity, in 1662. An 
enlightened conscience, and not sordid interest, was 
his guide. This worthy man had only two sons who 
survived him, Daniel and Philip : the latter was bred 
to the legal profession ; the former became a merchant, 
and acquired some property in London, but deserves 
especially to be mentioned as the father of the dis- 
tinguished subject of this memoir. 

The mother of Philip Doddridge was the orphan 
daughter of a worthy Bohemian refugee, the Rev. 
John Baumann, who fled from Prague in consequence 
of the persecution suffered by those who held the 
Protestant faith. At the sacrifice of early associa- 
tions, the friendships of youth, the charms of his na- 
tive country, and a considerable estate which he was 
just beginning to enjoy, this young and godly pastor, 
in the disguise of a peasant, on the emergency of the 
moment, was compelled to leave his home, with no 
other means of travel and of subsistence than a hun- 
dred pieces of gold, stitched into a leathern girdle 
for safe keeping. Besides this sum of money, the 
only possession which he could carry with him, and 
which he valued above all things, was a copy of the 
Bible in Luther's translation. 

This worthy minister seems to have been a man of 
uncommonly profound habits of thought, rendering 
him less careful than most men of matters connected 
with external comfort. We are told that, on one of 
the first nights of his journey, having slept at an ob- 
scure inn, and rising very early to pursue his way, in 
the hurry of the moment he forgot to buckle on the 
belt, and remained unconscious of the loss until the 



ANCESTRY AND EARLY YEARS. 13 

shades of evening again encouraged him to seek a 
second place of refuge, when he found himself with- 
out the means of sustenance, and consequently without 
the hope of escape. 

Even at the peril of being taken by his pursuers 
he at once began to retrace, under cover of the night, 
his weary steps to his last lodging-place, where he 
learned from the domestic servant that she had thrown 
the old belt away, supposing it to be of no value. 
Upon his offering a reward she made search, and 
found it under a staircase where useless articles were 
ordinarily thrown. The joy at its recovery inspired 
lasting gratitude to God, and greatly animated him 
in his subsequent journeys. 

Having spent some time in Saxony, and in states 
adjacent, he proceeded to England in 1646, and be- 
came master of the grammar-school at Kingston 
upon Thames. In 1688 he died, leaving one daughter, 
who subsequently married Daniel Doddridge, the Lon- 
don shopkeeper before referred to, and became the 
honored mother of Philip Doddridge. 

It is worthy of remark that the German Bible, the 
companion and solace of Pastor Baumann 7 s exile, is 
still preserved in the Doddridge family, forming two 
volumes in black morocco, deeply indented with gilt 
ornaments. Upon the fly-leaf of the first volume, Dr. 
Doddridge wrote : 

"P. Doddridge, 1724. 

"These Bibles my honored grandfather Mr. John 
Baumann brought with him from Germany his native 
country, when he fled on foot from the persecution 
there on account of the Protestant religion. 'For 



14 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

he had respect to the recompense of reward/ Heb. 
11 : 26. ' The law of thy mouth is better to me than 
thousands of gold and silver. 7 Psa. 119:72. 'Be 
ye followers of them who through faith and patience 
inherit the promises.' Heb. 6 : 12. ;? 

The day of the birth of Philip Doddridge, which 
occurred in London on June 26, 1702, seemed for a 
while likely to prove also the day of his death; for 
the evidences of animation were so slight, and the 
anxious care which the mother required was so ab- 
sorbing, that the infant was laid aside as dead ; but, 
soon afterwards, one of the attendants was providen- 
tially led to a closer examination, when a very slight 
heaving of the chest being observed, efforts at resus- 
citation were earnestly pursued ; and thus was saved 
to the world a life which proved of incalculable 
value. 

He was his mother's twentieth child, all the others 
but one, and that a feeble daughter, having died 
early. Raised himself as from the grave, and ex- 
pected, probably, to add another at no distant day to 
the sad instances of early death in the family, this 
only son was naturally regarded by his pious parents 
with especial solicitude and love. We are therefore 
not surprised to learn that he was most carefully 
trained up in the knowledge and service of Christ. 
Dr. Doddridge, in one of his letters, thus relates this 
beautiful incident connected with the period of his 
childhood : " I was brought up in the early knowledge 
of religion by my pious parents, who were in their 
character very worthy of their birth and education; 



ANCESTRY AND EARLY YEARS. 15 

and I well remember that my mother taught me the 
history of the Old and New Testaments before I could 
read, by the assistance of some blue Dutch tiles in 
the chimney-place of the room where we commonly 
sat ; and the wise and pious reflections she made 
upon these stories were the means of enforcing such 
good impressions on my heart as never afterwards 
wore out." 

A valuable lesson of maternal wisdom and affec- 
tion is conveyed in this incident ; and with gratitude 
should it be considered that the means of interesting 
and of instructing childhood in recent years are im- 
measurably superior to these rude pictures, which 
proved so serviceable in the case of young Philip 
Doddridge. 

Having gained an elementary knowledge of the 
learned languages at the private school of the Rev. 
Mr. Scott, a pious minister in London, he was sent, at 
the age of ten, in 1712, to the grammar-school at 
Kingston upon Thames, formerly under the charge of 
his grandfather Baumann. Here, in the formation of 
his character, and in the confirmation of the religious 
impressions received under the paternal roof, he was 
greatly indebted to the kind regard and pious coun- 
sels of the Rev. Mr. Mayo, whose ministry he at- 
tended. 

Having been connected with the school in Kings- 
ton only three years, his filial love was severely tried 
by the death of his worthy father. The reflections 
which he placed on record at the time, show the res- 
ignation with which the trial was endured : " God is 
an immortal Father; my soul rejoiceth in him: he 



16 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

has hitherto helped me and provided for me ; may it 
be my study to approve myself a more affectionate, 
grateful, and dutiful child." 

Great as was this affliction, he was soon called to 
one greater — the loss of his truly excellent mother. 
One of Dr. Doddridge's sermons, entitled "The Or- 
phan's Hope/ 7 contains a touching allusion to this 
event: "I am under some peculiar obligations to de- 
sire and attempt the relief of orphans ; as I know the 
heart of an orphan, having been deprived of both my 
parents at an age in which it might be reasonably 
supposed that a child would be most sensible of such 
a loss." 

The orphan boy was soon removed to St. Albans, 
twenty miles north of London, where he attended the 
private school of the learned and pious Nathaniel 
Wood, some of whose letters will be found in the 
present work. While connected with this school, 
his conduct and attainments deserve honorable men- 
tion. Not only was he a close student, but he took 
delight in assisting other students whose advantages 
were inferior to his own ; he conversed with them on 
religious subjects, and encouraged social meetings for 
prayer ; and his walks for exercise were turned to a 
benevolent and pious account. Often did he call at 
the cottages of the poor, that he might read to them 
the Scriptures and other religious books, and con- 
tribute, from his slender funds, to the supply of their 
temporal necessities. Thus early did he lay the 
foundation of those habits of practical usefulness to 
which his professional life was so ardently devoted. 

It was among the richest blessings of his lot, 



ANCESTRY AND EARLY YEARS. IT 

while at St. Albans, that he made the acquaintance, 
and gained the affectionate esteem, of the Rev. Sam- 
uel Clarke, the well-known author of "Scripture 
Promises/ 7 whose ministry he regularly attended, 
with great practical benefit. 

When sixteen years of age, Philip Doddridge was 
received into the church, of which event, and of the 
exercises of his mind at the time, his own interesting 
record has been preserved. 

U I rose early this morning, and read that part of 
Mr. Henry's book on the Lord's supper which treats 
of a due approach to it. I endeavored to excite in 
myself those dispositions and affections which he men- 
tions as proper for that ordinance. As I endeavored 
to prepare my heart according to the preparation of 
the sanctuary, though with many defects, God was 
pleased to visit me, and to give me sweet communion 
with himself, of which I desire always to retain a 
grateful sense. I this day, in. the strength of Christ, 
renewed my covenant with God, and renounced my 
covenant with sin. I vowed against every sin, and 
resolved carefully to perform every duty. The Lord 
keep this in the imagination of my heart, and grant I 
may not deal treacherously with him. 

"In the evening I read and thought on some of Mr. 
Henry's directions for a suitable conversation after 
the Lord's supper, and then prayed, begging that 
God would give me grace so to act as he requires, 
and as I have bound myself. I then looked over the 4 
memorandums of this day, comparing the manner in 
which I had spent it, and in which I designed to 
spend it ; and, blessed be God, I had reason to do it 



18 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

with some pleasure, although I found cause for hu- 
miliation. 77 

Soon after making this public profession of relig- 
ion, he resolved to devote himself to the service of 
God in the work of the Christian ministry, in the 
prosecution of which design he bestowed unusual care 
upon the study of the learned languages, and wrote 
comments on a portion of Scripture every morning 
and evening. He also committed to writing an 
abstract of every sermon which he heard, and added 
reflections of his own. 

Not far had he proceeded in this course of prepa- 
ration for the ministry, when Providence seemed to 
interpose an insurmountable obstacle. The property 
left to him by his parents was utterly lost by the 
failure of an unfaithful guardian, so that he found 
himself without the means of prosecuting his studies. 
It was a severe disappointment, but years afterward 
he regarded it as one of the most beneficent arrange- 
ments of Providence for his spiritual well-being and 
usefulness. To provide for this emergency he went 
to London, that he might consult with his brother-in- 
law, the Rev. John Nettleton, and with Mrs. N , 

his beloved sister. The Duchess of Bedford in some 
way becoming acquainted with the young man 7 s em- 
barrassments, made him, while in the city, the liberal 
offer to educate him at either of the Universities, 
provided he would leave the Dissenters, and connect 
himself with the Established church. To a youth 
ardently devoted to learning, and singularly apt in 
its acquisition, the trial was great, as his conscience 
forbade his subscription to all the articles and for- 



ANCESTRY AND EARLY YEARS. 19 

mularies he would be required to adopt. Over a 
regard to ease, to honor, and to wealth, his conscien- 
tiousness prevailed. He resolved to struggle with 
all the difficulties of the case, entertaining the hope 
that he might meet with encouragement from some 
of his dissenting brethren. One of the most eminent 
of that class of ministers was applied to for aid. 
The response was sufficiently discouraging. " I wait- 
ed/ 7 says the modest youth, "upon Dr. Edmund 
Calamy, to beg his advice and assistance, that I 
might be brought up a minister, which has always 
been my great desire. He gave me no encourage- 
ment in it, but advised me to turn my thoughts to 
something else. It was with great concern that I 
received such advice ; but I desire to follow provi- 
dence, and not to force it. The Lord give me grace 
to glorify him in whatever station he sets me : then 
here am I ; let him do with me what seemeth good in 
his sight." 

It is possible that the discouragement of his design 
by Dr. Calamy may have proceeded from a view of 
the great delicacy of young Doddridge's constitution, 
"which at this period was evinced by a tall and sin- 
gularly slender form, combined with that languid 
fulness of the eye, and mantling flush upon the cheek, 
which are too frequently the heralds of premature 
dissolution." In consequence of the discouragement 
now incurred, he turned his attention to the study of 
the law, having received a lucrative proposal from a 
celebrated counsellor in London. 

Here again was offered a strong inducement to 
turn aside from his long cherished design of becom- 



20 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

ing a humble minister of the gospel. Wealth and 
honor beckoned him on in the new path thus unex- 
pectedly opened to his ardent mind. But to this 
new impulse he did not hastily commit himself; he 
sought counsel of God, and of an enlightened con- 
science. One of his letters relates to the interesting 
result : 

"Before I returned my final answer, I took ono 
morning solemnly to seek of God direction; and so 
it was, that even while I was thus engaged, the post- 
man called at the door with a letter from Mr. Clarke, 
in which he told me that he had heard of my diffi- 
culty, and offered to take me under his care, if I 
chose the ministry upon Christian principles, and 
there were no other that in those circumstances could 
invite me to such a choice. This I looked upon 
almost as an answer from heaven; and while I live 
I shall ever adore so seasonable an interposition of 
divine Providence. 77 

This generous provision was offered by his be- 
loved pastor at St. Albans; in respect to which, 
John Stoughton, in the discourse he delivered in 
Doddridge's pulpit at Northampton, a century after 
his death, very properly observes : 

"Next to the honor of a successful ministry itself, 
is the distinction of being instrumental in the intro- 
duction of another to such a course ; and the story of 
Doddridge should be regarded as a caution to the 
masters of our Israel, not hastily to repress, in the 
bosom of a gifted and ingenuous young man, aspira- 
tions after the holiest of all employments. What a 
loss would the church have sustained at that critical 






ANCESTRY AND EARLY YEARS. 21 

period, had not Dr. Calamy's repulse been neutralized 
by Mr. Clarke's encouragement?" 

To this good and generous man Dr. Doddridge 
in after-life often expressed his obligations, and at 
length, in pronouncing a funeral discourse upon him, 
he observes, "I may properly call him my friend and 
father, if all the offices of paternal tenderness can 
merit that title. To him I may truly say that, under 
God, I owe even myself, and all my opportunities of 
public usefulness in the church — -to him, who was not 
only the instructor of my childhood and youth in the 
principles of religion, but my guardian when a help- 
less orphan, as well as the generous, tender, faithful 
friend of all my advancing years." 



22 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

CHAPTER II. 

DODDRIDGE'S THEOLOGICAL STUDIES. 

Gratefully availing himself of the timely offer 
of his friend and pastor, the Rev. Samuel Clarke, 
Doddridge promptly returned to St. Albans, where 
he enjoyed such advice, instructions, and use of books, 
as might best tend to prepare him for his theological 
course of study at Kibworth in Leicestershire, at the 
academy of the celebrated Rev. John Jennings, author 
of the learned work on "The Antiquities of the Jews," 
highly esteemed by the ministers of that period. Of 
that excellent academy he became a member in Octo- 
ber, 1719. 

The academies, of the class conducted by Mr. Jen- 
nings, were founded on the broad basis of non-sub- 
scription to denominational formulas of faith, were 
accessible to persons of all religious parties, and were 
resorted to even by such of the clergy and laity of the 
Establishment, as found the universities too expensive. 
Chaplains and tutors to families of rank were often 
educated in these academies. No testimonial or qual- 
ification for entrance was demanded, but the evidence 
of possessing a good moral character, and the mastery 
of a prescribed amount of classical and other prepara- 
tory studies. It must here be acknowledged as a 
great evil, and goes far to show the low state of relig- 
ion at the time when Doddridge and others were 
raised up in the providence of God for its revival, 
that even among many of the Dissenters of England, 



HIS THEOLOGICAL STUDIES. 23 

personal piety was not then considered essential to 
an entrance on the duties of the ministry. 

During his residence at Kibworth no one applied 
himself with greater diligence to study, to devotion, 
and to the best improvement of time, than Philip Dod- 
dridge. From a paper in which he kept an account 
of his pursuits, it appears that, besides attending and 
studying the academical lectures, and reading the 
authors to which his tutor referred in illustration of 
his lectures, he read in one half year sixty volumes, 
some of them large, and about an equal number in 
the same period subsequently. The manner in which 
he read deserves remark : it was not hasty and super- 
ficial, but with profound attention. Some volumes he 
took pains to abridge; from others he made large 
extracts in his commonplace-book ; every remarkable 
interpretation or illustration of texts of Scripture he 
transferred to his interleaved Bible. At this period 
he devoted himself to a more extended course of 
Greek studies, not only reading the Greek authors, 
but writing his own observations upon them, either 
for the illustration of the authors themselves or of the 
Scriptures, and selecting passages which might with 
advantage be introduced into his sermons. His ob- 
servations upon Homer were sufficiently copious to 
make a considerable volume. 

How he was situated at Kibworth, his student-life, 
its employments, its joys and sorrows, are well de- 
scribed in the letters, or parts of letters, which we 
shall introduce in their appropriate order. To Mr. 
Clarke, his early patron, and his most trusted coun- 
sellor in after-life, he made frequent reports of his 



24 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

studies, and of his expenditures and wants. In return 
he received valuable letters of counsel, and prompt 
attention was given to his pecuniary necessities. 

To the Rev. Samuel Clarke. 

"January 3, 1721. 
"In my last, sir, I sent you an account of the 
course of our public studies for this last half year, 
and you will perceive that they are of such a nature 
as to require a considerable exercise of thought, and 
that the references are generally long, and conse- 
quently that we have less time for our private studies 
than we ever had in any of our former half years ; 
however, I generally find about an hour and a half in 
a day for the study of the Scriptures. The New Tes- 
tament I read in the original without any commenta- 
tor, but more of my time is spent in reading the Old, 
for I would willingly finish ' Patrick's Commentary 7 
before it is taken from Kilworth, which will be in a 
few months. I have read all but the second book of 
Chronicles, Bcclesiastes, and Canticles ; and design 
to begin ' Lowth on Isaiah and Jeremiah ? when I 
have done with these, and 'Dr. Prideaux's Connec- 
tion/ which I am now reading with a particular view 
to the prophecies. I do not entirely neglect the clas- 
sics, though I have but little time for them. Since 
my last mention I have read some of Horace, with 
Dacier's Commentary, and a few of Tully's delightful 
works. I am ashamed to think how little I am 
acquainted with the Greek, and heartily wish I had 
been more careful in studying it when I was with you 
at St. Albans. However, sir, that I might not forget 
the little I know, besides the New Testament, which 



HIS THEOLOGICAL STUDIES. 25 

I mentioned, I have read some portions of Socrates, 
Homer, Lucian, and Xenophon, since last Whitsun- 
tide. 

" In English, besides many other works, I have 
lately read * Burnet's Theory/ which I took up with 
the expectation of meeting with some new philosophi- 
cal discovery, in which respect, indeed, I was sadly 
disappointed. I am now reading ' Lord Shaftesbury's 
Works/ which, as far as I can judge by the half I 
have dispatched, contain a strange mixture of good 
sense and extravagance. 

" My good tutor continues to treat me with a great 
deal of kindness, and lets no opportunity slip of oblig- 
ing me at home, or promoting my interest abroad. 
When I am speaking of his goodness, I cannot forget 
that I owe even that to you, who have placed and 
supported me here. I know, sir, that you do not like 
compliments, and I would never deal in them; yet 
still I hope you will give me leave to tell you, with a 
great feeling of plainness and sincerity, that if I did 
not frequently reflect upon the favors I have received 
from you, I could not keep on good terms with my- 
self. I have nothing left to ask, but the continuance 
of your prayers that I may have the wisdom and 
grace to behave myself, both here and in the after- 
part of my life, so that neither you nor my other 
friends may have reason to repent the benefits you 
have done me." 

To the same. 

"Kibworth, Dec. 13, 1721. 
" I am extremely pleased to find that you are so 
well satisfied as to my care in managing my expenses. 



26 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

I acknowledge, sir, that you have always been very 
indulgent to me upon that head ; and I think myself 
so much the more obliged to study frugality, lest I 
should seem to abuse your goodness and the confi- 
dence which you have in me. Besides, I know how 
difficult it is to obtain supplies, and am heartily con- 
cerned to think of the trouble you are at on my 
account ; and yet, notwithstanding all my precaution, 
I find my stock decreases apace. 

" As for my studies, we have almost finished Pneu- 
matology and Ethics, and proceeded a good way in 
Critics. These Critics are an abridgment of a con- 
siderable book by Mr. Jones, on such subjects as the 
antiquity of the Hebrew language, its points, the 
Masora, Talmud, and Cabbala. We have several 
Latin, French, and English versions of the Bible, and 
have continually large references to Prideaux, Bux- 
torf, etc. Our Ethics are drawn up by Mr. Jennings 
from Puffendorf and Grotius. Once a week we have 
a pneumatological disputation, and consequently each 
of us makes in turn a thesis in a month. We have 
the liberty of choosing our own subjects; and mine 
have been, the seat of the soul, polygamy, and God's 
prescience of contingencies ; and I am now preparing 
one in defence of the soul's immortality. " 

To Mr. Hughes. 

"KlBWORTH, 1721. 

" I think the Spectator somewhere tells us that no 
music is so sweet to a man as his own praise: me- 
thinks he should have excepted the pleasure that an 
honest and generous mind takes in hearing a friend 
commended. One thing I can confidently affirm, that 



HIS THEOLOGICAL STUDIES. 27 

though I passed the holidays very pleasantly, at least 
some of them, in the company of a very agreeable 
lady — and you know I was always an admirer of the 
sex — yet nothing gave me so much satisfaction as a 
few minutes' conversation with Mr. Benyan, when the 
discourse turned upon you. 

" He told me, among other things, that you were 
making yourself master of the French language. I 
am heartily glad to hear it, because it will give you 
an opportunity of entertaining yourself with some of 
the finest writers in the world. Many of them had 
certainly very great genius, and were intimately 
acquainted with the ancients, those great masters of 
eloquence and poetry. Of all their dramatic poets I 
have met with none that I admire so much as Racine. 
It is impossible not to be charmed with the pomp, 
eloquence, and harmony of his language, as well as 
the majesty, tenderness, and propriety of his senti- 
ments. The whole is conducted with a wonderful 
mixture of grandeur and simplicity, which sufficiently 
distinguished him from the dulness of some tragedi- 
ans, and the bombast of others. One of his principal 
faults is, that the jingle of his double rhyme frequently 
offends the ear. I have lately met with the Arch- 
bishop of Cambray's Reflections on Eloquence, which 
I think one of the most judicious pieces I have ever 
seen. There are some fine criticisms at the end of it, 
which well deserve your perusal. 

" As for French sermons, they are, as far as I can 
judge, very much inferior to those of our English 
divines. Bourdaloue's, though much regarded, ap- 
pear to me little better than empty harangues. Che- 



28 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

minais 7 are many of them very good ; but I never met 
with any that are to be compared with those of M. 
Superville, the Protestant divine at Eotterdam: he 
especially excels in the beauty of his imagery, descrip- 
tions, and similes ; and has some of the most pathetic 
expostulations I ever read." 

As a theological student, Mr. Doddridge at this 
period gave great attention to the study of the Scrip- 
tures, and of the best writers in practical divinity. 
"He furnished himself," says Orton, "with Clarke's 
* Annotations on the Old Testament/ for the sake of 
many valuable interpretations, a judicious collection of 
parallel texts, and the convenience of a large margin 
on which to write his own remarks; and with an 
interleaved Testament. In these he inserted illustra- 
tions of Scripture, which occurred to him in reading, 
conversation, or reflection; together with practical 
remarks, which might be drawn from particular pas- 
sages, their connection with others, or the general 
design of the sacred writers ; especially those which 
might not, on a cursory reading, appear so obvious, 
but on that account might be more striking and use- 
ful. He laid it down as an inviolable rule, to read 
some practical divinity every day. He labored assid- 
uously to attain the gift of prayer. For this purpose 
he made a collection of proper expressions of suppli- 
cation and thanksgiving, on common and special occa- 
sions, both from Scripture and devotional writers, that 
he might be qualified to perform this part of public 
service in a copious, pertinent, and edifying manner." 

In the cultivation of personal religion, he was pre- 



HIS THEOLOGICAL STUDIES. 29 

eminently faithful, assiduous, and earnest. Among 
his papers was discovered a solemn form of covenant 
with God, written and subscribed with his own hand 
about this period, wherein he not only states his views 
and resolutions concerning the care of his heart, and 
the management of his entire conduct, but devotes 
himself, his time, and abilities to the service of God, 
for this life and the life to come. This covenant he 
expressed a purpose to read over solemnly, as in the 
presence of God, once a month, to ascertain how faith- 
fully he had adhered to it, and to refresh his recollec- 
tions of the various duties and obligations to which 
he had pledged himself therein. [See "Rise and 
Progress," chapter 17.] 

We have also a delightful view of this young 
man's student-life and character, in the rules which 
he framed for the regulation of his conduct, and 
which he inscribed in his interleaved Testament, for 
the convenience of frequent review, and of comparison 
with his daily practice. 

RULES FOR THE DIRECTION OF MY CONDUCT 
WHILE A STUDENT. 

1. Let my first thoughts be devout and thankful. 
Let me rise early, immediately return to God solemn 
thanks for the mercies of the night, devote myself to 
him, and beg his assistance in the intended business 
of the day. 

2. In this, and every other act of devotion, let me 
recollect my thoughts ; speak directly to Him, and 
never give way to any thing internal or external that 
may divert my attention. 



30 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

3. Let me set myself to read the Scriptures every 
morning. In the first reading, let me endeavor to 
impress my heart with a practical sense of divine 
things ; and then use the help of commentators. Let 
these rules, with proper alterations, be observed every 
evening. 

4. Never let me trifle with a book with which I 
have no present concern. In applying myself to any 
work, let me first recollect what I may learn by it, 
and then beg suitable assistance from God; and let 
me continually endeavor to make all my studies sub- 
servient to practical religion and ministerial useful- 
ness. 

5. Never let me lose one minute of time, nor incur 
unnecessary expenses, that I may have the more to 
spend for God. 

6. When I am called abroad, let me be desirous 
of doing good, and receiving good. Let me always 
have in readiness some subject of contemplation, and 
endeavor to improve my time with good thoughts as 
I go along. Let me endeavor to render myself agree- 
able and useful to all about me by a tender, compas- 
sionate, friendly behavior, avoiding all trifling and 
impertinent stories, and remembering that all impru- 
dence is sin. 

7. Let me use moderation at meals, and see that I 
am not hypocritical in prayers and thanksgivings at 
them. 

8. Let me never delay any thing unless I can 
prove that another time will be more fit than the 
present, or that some other more important duty re- 
quires my attendance. 



HIS THEOLOGICAL STUDIES. 31 

9. Let Hie be often lifting up my heart to God in 
the intervals of secret worship, repeating those peti- 
tions which are of the greatest importance, and a sur- 
render of myself to his service. 

10. Never let me enter into long schemes about 
future events, but in general refer myself to the divine 
care. 

11. Let me labor after habitual gratitude and love 
to God and the Redeemer. Let me guard against 
pride, remembering that I have all from God's hand, 
and that I have deserved the severest punishment. 

12. In all my studies, let me remember that the 
souls of men are immortal, and that Christ died to 
redeem them. 

13. Let me consecrate my sleep and all my recrea- 
tions to God, and seek them for his sake. 

14. Let me frequently ask myself what duty or 
what temptation is now before me. 

15. Let me remember that, through the mercy of 
God in a Redeemer, I hope I am within a short space 
of heaven. 

16. Let me frequently survey these rules, and my 
conduct as compared with them. 

17. Let me often recollect which of these rules I 
have present occasion to practise. 

18. If I have grossly erred in any one of these 
particulars, let me not think it an excuse for erring 
in others. 

A briefer series of practical directions drawn up 
about this time by Doddridge, for the government of 
his own conduct, is worthy of preservation. 

1. Begin the day with God. 



32 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

2. Be conscientious and diligent in the business 
of the day. 

3. Be moderate and innocent in the recreations 
of the day. 

4. Carefully remark and wisely improve all prov- 
idential dispensations. 

5. Guard against the temptations of the day. 

6. Govern your thoughts when alone. 

7. Guard your tongue when in company. 

8. In every thing depend on the assisting grace 
of God. Whatever be the work in hand, whether 
sacred or civil, whether temple work, domestic work, 
public work, or closet work, seek divine assistance. 

9. Close the day with self-examination and prayer. 
Any one who shall conform, in a good degree, to 

rules like these, is no common man ; and yet we have 
reason to believe that Doddridge habitually, and with 
an unusual degree of success, made them the guide 
of his energetic, self-denying, and useful life. Devia- 
tions from one or another of these, there doubtless 
may have been ; but it was a pledge of high excel- 
lence in all the grand and noble aims of life, that he 
set distinctly and visibly before him rules of such 
uncommon strictness, and that he applied his active 
and prayerful and persevering mind to the fullest 
exemplification of them in his daily life. An enlarged 
piety and philanthropy evidently had already pos- 
session of his heart, and constituted his grand prin- 
ciples of action. 

In the latter part of his student-life, and in the 
earlier years of his ministerial course, it must be con- 
fessed, that his buoyant, gay, and social temperament 



HIS THEOLOGICAL STUDIES. 33 

led him into a style of epistolary correspondence not 
in sufficient harmony with the rules by which he had 
so earnestly purposed to govern his conduct. 

When the Rev. Job Orton was about to undertake 
the office of biographer, Mrs. Doddridge, after the 
decease of her excellent husband, thus writes : 

" We were neither of us strangers to the natural 
gayety of his temper, which sometimes cast a shade 
over his otherwise excellent qualities; and these 
things may perhaps be yet remembered by some 
when those may be overlooked and forgot. But 
mingled, as I fear you will find his early diaries 
and other papers with things of this kind, I doubt 
not but you will also there find those seeds of piety 
which, by his indefatigable care, under the blessing 
of Heaven, were growing up and gradually im- 
proved, till they shone out with such bright and 
distinguishing rays ; and amid his gayest scenes in 
early life, will there be discovered the foundations 
early laid for those important and extensive schemes 
of his future usefulness, many of which, by the divine 
favor, he lived to execute, and others, and still more 
perhaps, were broken off." 

These hints apply more particularly to some' of 
the earlier portions of his correspondence, as it ap- 
pears in the voluminous London edition ; yet it may 
be affirmed that the letters are well written, and 
that many of them display some of the finest quali- 
ties of thought, of style, and of moral excellence. 
Many even of his early letters show that he had, 
while still a youth, formed habits of clear and vigo- 
rous reasoning on theological subjects. 

2* 



34 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

Having pursued his studies for three years, under 
Mr. Jennings, at Kibworth, he followed his tutor in 
his removal to Hinckley in 1722, that he might com- 
plete his studies preparatory to being licensed to 
preach the gospel. His licensure took place just 
after he had completed his twentieth year. The fol- 
lowing letters will form the best narrative of the 
circumstances connected with this period of his life. 

To his Sister, Mrs. Nettleton. 

" Hinckley, July 30, 1722. 

"I preached my first sermon on Sunday morning 
to a very large auditory, from 1 Cor. 16:22: 'If 
any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be 
Anathema, Maranatha. ? It was a plain and practical 
discourse, and cost me but a few hours study j but as 
I had the advantage of a very moving subject, and a 
good-natured, attentive people, it was received much 
better than I could have expected. There was one 
good old woman that was a little offended to see 
such a lad get up into the pulpit ; but I had the good 
fortune to please her so well, that as soon as I had 
done, she told Mrs. Jennings that she could lay me 
in her bosom." 

A happy result is reported of this first sermon : 
" I find in his diary," says Mr. Orton, " that two 
persons ascribed their conversion to the blessing of 
God attending that sermon, with which he appears 
to have been much affected and encouraged." 

To the Rev. Samuel Clarke. 

" Hinckley, Sept., 1722. 
"If I were to regard only my own personal con- 
venience, I should very much regret our leaving Kib- 



HIS THEOLOGICAL STUDIES. 35 

worth; for we have none of those agreeable retire- 
ments without doors that we had there, as meadows, 
gardens, arbors, and grottos. 

" As for the company in the town, it can but little 
interrupt my studies. If I expect elegant and polite 
entertainment, I must look for it within doors. Our 
neighbors are persons of an ordinary education, but 
some of them have native good sense, and many of 
them a great deal of piety ; and they often take an 
unaffected prudent freedom in discoursing on relig- 
ious subjects, which is very agreeable, and I hope 
may be improving. 

"Mr. Jennings encourages the greatest freedom 
of inquiry, and always inculcates it as a law, that 
the Scriptures are the only genuine standard of 
faith. We have gone through many important doc- 
trines since Whitsuntide, such as the preexistence 
and divinity of Christ, the Trinity, the nature of 
angels, the Adamic covenant, the imputation of the 
sin of our first parents, the satisfaction made by 
Christ, and the abolition of the Mosaic law. Once 
a week we make a thesis. I have already composed 
two : one on the inspiration of the New Testament, 
the other on the absurdity charged upon the Mosaic 
history of the creation and fall. 

"For ecclesiastical history we read Dupin's Com- 
pendium. But then we take in the assistance of 
Le Clerc, Spanheim, and Bibliotheca Patrum. We 
have already gone through the first twelve cen- 
turies." 



36 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

To Mr. Hughes. 

"September 22, 1722. 

"We are settled at Hinckley, which is a populous 
place, and our number of pupils is considerably in- 
creased ; but how gladly would I exchange this new 
company for a few days or hours with you. Pardon 
these expressions of a fondness which I cannot con- 
ceal. 

" There are many dissenters in this town, who all 
treat me with a great deal of respect. Some of them 
have natural good sense, but there is little politeness 
among them, and so one cannot expect the more ele- 
gant entertainment of conversation. I am fixed in a 
very pretty little chamber, but I do not like it so well 
as my old garret at Kib worth, because it is more ex- 
posed to the noise of the house ; and I have no oppor- 
tunity of reading aloud, nor room to walk about in it. 
We are now in a great hurry of building, and I have 
no very delightful prospect ; for if I look out at the 
window, I see nothing but lime and bricks, and sand 
and timber, the materials of our new meeting-place. 
And then for music I hear the noise of axes, the din 
of hammers, and the creaking of saws. I am so 
much entertained with these soothing sounds, that I 
could not but mention them; and hope that amidst 
all this harmony you will pardon a little nonsense. 

"I beg that you will not delay writing, if you 
would not have me believe that you have forgotten 
the most affectionate of your friends, and the hum- 
blest of your servants." 






HIS THEOLOGICAL STUDIES. 31 

To the same. 

"Hinckley, 1722. 
"I do not know what character my friends may 
have given you of my sermons, but I am sure, if it be 
a very advantageous one, it will be my most prudent 
way to take care not to undeceive you by preaching 
before you ; for if I may be permitted to be any judge 
of my own performances, they will by no means an- 
swer your expectations. They are all upon the 
plainest and most practical subjects ; and it is happy 
if they be at all calculated, as I am sure they were 
principally intended, to inform the judgment and 
awaken the consciences of the people, and to fix their 
resolution for a course of rational, steady, and indis- 
pensable piety. It is not because I despise the 
charms of eloquence, that I have entirely laid them 
aside, but because I know that I am not at all master 
of them, and so choose rather not to attempt them, 
than by an awkward imitation to darken the subject 
to the plainer part of an audience, without approv- 
ing myself to the nicer judgment of the more polite. 
In short, I am grown very familiar with the old Pu- 
ritans, and consequently I am a great favorite with 
the old women! Pray congratulate me on this good 
fortune, which is entirely beyond my expectation and 
my hope." 

To the Rev. Samuel Clarke. 

"December 1, 1722. 
"Mr. Jennings 7 pupils never preach anywhere 
out of the verge of their own congregation, till they 
have been examined by a committee of the neighbor- 
ing ministers, who are chosen for that purpose at a 



38 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

general county meeting. The time of this examina- 
tion is in the pupils' choice. Now I leave it to your 
determination whether I shall be examined imme- 
diately after Christmas, or defer it to the last month 
of my course. Mr. Jennings is for hastening it, be- 
cause he thinks, by preaching abroad, I may get a 
better acquaintance in the neighborhood. Kibworth 
is not yet provided with a minister, and they are 
pretty urgent for occasional supplies from our house. 
And then he thinks riding will be good for my 
health. I am sure there is at least one considerable 
objection to these arguments, and that is, that I have 
neither great-coat, boots, spurs, nor whip, nor so 
much as a Bible big enough to hold my notes; and 
so I am but poorly equipped for an itinerant 
preacher. 

"I should be glad to hear in your next, how you 
intend to dispose of me after I have finished my 
course here : whether I am to spend a few months 
more with Mr. Jennings, or may hope to have my 
education carried on at some other place ; whether, if 
neither of these plans can be brought about, I am 
to be fixed in a private family, and preach now and 
then, or am likely to be more constantly engaged. 
I should be very well pleased with any of the for- 
mer, but have no inclination for the last, if it can 
conveniently be avoided. 

"I do not know that I have ever been more fru- 
gal in my expenses, since I came to Mr. Jennings', 
than I have been of late, and yet I have been forced 
to take four guineas since the date of my last. One 
half guinea was spent in articles of dress, and the 



HIS THEOLOGICAL STUDIES. 39 

greatest part of another in necessary journeys ; one 
to Leicester, to take the oaths and subscribe the 
articles,* which cost me six shillings, and another to 
Mount Sorrel to a meeting of ministers. 

"I have made two theological theses — one about 
original sin, and the other on the worship of Christ ; 
and four more sermons: one on maintaining contin- 
ual communion with God, Psa. 73:23; two on the 
omniscience of God, from Prov. 15:3; 1 Cor. 2:9; 
and the last on a regard to the invisible world, from 
2 Cor. 4:18. The people were, generally speaking, 
calm and attentive; not bigoted to any particular 
subjects or phases, but heartily pleased, with the as- 
surance of honesty and seriousness ; and it is princi- 
pally owing to this, that these plain, artless dis- 
courses have met with much better acceptance than 
I could have expected. 

" Long lectures, disputations, and sermons do not 
leave us much spare time; but most of that which 
remains is spent in the Scriptures, and practical di- 
vinity, and some volumes of Boyle's Lectures in vin- 
dication of revealed religion. The classics, the Spec- 
tator, essays, poems, and travels serve for the enter- 
tainment of our idle hours. I ask your pardon for 
detaining you so long, but I write the more at large 
that I may not trouble you so often." 

To Miss Clarke. 

" January 5, 1723. 

"All my present happiness is treasured up in my 

friends; and for that very reason, you cannot im- 

* A legal qualification, without which a non-conformist 
could not then preach in safety. 



40 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

agine how frequently they discompose me. I feel 
their afflictions more than my own, and am tormented 
with a thousand imaginary fears upon their account, 
which my fondness, and not my reason, suggests. 
Every thing that looks like a slight or a neglect 
from them touches me to the quick; and while I 
imagine they are out of humor, I am so far from 
being cheerful, that I can hardly be good-natured. 

"And now, if the inordinate love of the most 
excellent creatures has so many fatal consequences, 
how just your reflections : If our souls are formed for 
love, let us learn to place our supreme affection upon our 
Creator; for it is that alone which can afford us 
lasting satisfaction. And certainly, if we could per- 
suade ourselves to love the blessed God as we ought, 
the happiness of this life, as well as the hope of the 
next, would be fixed upon the most solid basis; we 
should have all the transports of unbounded passion 
without any of its anguish and perturbation. He has 
no sorrow to be condoled, no unkindness to be sus- 
pected, no change to be feared. The united powers 
of the creation cannot give him one moment's un- 
easiness, nor separate us one moment from his pres- 
ence and his favor; but the dear object of our 
wishes and our hopes would be for ever happy, and 
for ever our own. We may converse with him in 
the most intimate and endearing manner, in every 
place and in every circumstance of life. Every afflic- 
tion would then be light, and every duty would be 
easy. How ardently should we embrace every op- 
portunity of doing something to testify our respect 
and affection for him ; and what a relish would it 



HIS THEOLOGICAL STUDIES. 41 

give to every common enjoyment of life to consider 
that it came from his hand, and that he sent it as 
a token of his love, and as the pledge of something 
infinitely more valuable. Death itself would be 
unspeakably desirable when we could consider it 
in this view — but as retiring with the best of our 
friends into a nobler apartment, to spend an eternity 
in his delightful presence, without the least interval 
of sorrow, absence, or indifference. It is a happy 
condition; but, alas, when shall we arrive at it? 
I have often thought that affectionate tempers, like 
yours and mine, are well turned for the most ele 
vated devotion. But we cannot expect it, at least 
for any continuance, till we have regulated and sub- 
dued every meaner passion. 

"I heartily join with you in lamenting the di- 
visions of the London ministers, and beg that God 
would pour out a better spirit upon them, a spirit 
of love and a sound mind — orthodoxy of temper, 
well as orthodoxy of belief!" 

To his .Sister, il r s . -N e 1 1 1 e t o n . 

" January 26, 1723. 
li I really want company. This looks like a 
strange complaint in such a family as ours. But I 
will assure you that it is not without reason. Mrs. 
Jennings [with whom he boarded] is either busy or 
tired ; and as for my fellow-pupils, some of them have 
but a moderate share of common-sense : some of 
them are of a very unhappy natural temper, and 
most of them are perfect strangers to every thing 
that looks like goodbreeding and polit ,o that, 



42 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

though I keep upon very civil terms with all, I am 
intimate with nobody but Mrs. Jennings. 

"I am to be examined to-morrow by a committee 
of ministers chosen for that purpose at the general 
meeting. I know the temper of the men, and the 
nature of the thing so well, that I have no uneasy 
apprehensions about it." 

The above extract suggests an incident well re- 
lated by Mr. Stoughton, who observes that in Dod- 
dridge, " unaffected courtesy was blended with liter- 
ary refinement, and the poor student could hardly 
be mistaken for any thing but what he was, the 
polished gentleman. Overtaken one day by bad 
weather at Newport Pagnell, he called at the 
house of Mr. Hunt, the pastor of the Dissenting 
church there, when his son, struck with the inter- 
esting appearance and bland manners of the visitor, 
offered him the loan of a great-coat. Mrs. Hunt, 
good careful soul, questioned the wisdom of putting 
such generous confidence in an unaccredited stranger ; 
but the son, who could read character better than 
the mother, replied, "I am sure he is a gentleman 
and a scholar." The answer was overheard by Dod- 
dridge, and he never forgot this expression of his 
new friend's trustfulness, and this reward of his 
own courteous demeanor. An intimacy sprung up 
between him and young Hunt, who succeeded his 
father in the ministry of Newport. The town be- 
came a place of interest to Doddridge, and after he 
attained to celebrity, an opportunity offered for 
showing a practical concern for the welfare of the 



HIS THEOLOGICAL STUDIES. 43 

church. The meeting-house having been erected 
on an estate which was the property of one of the 
principal people in the congregation, no conveyance 
of the ground on which it stood had ever been made 
to proper trustees, and the owner of the estate be- 
coming a bankrupt, it was seized by the creditors ; 
this was in 1740. Dr. Doddridge then generously 
came forward and purchased the meeting-place of 
them, and conveyed it to proper trustees, and by 
his zeal and influence the money was soon raised." 

The subject of another portion of the last letter is 
more fully unfolded in the following one : 

To the Uev. Samuel Clarke. 

"January 28,1723. 
"I am very much obliged to you for the tender 
concern you express for me, and the excellent and 
seasonable advice which you give me. May I always 
so digest and retain it as ever to carry about with 
me an humble sense of my own insufficiency, a cheerful 
dependence upon the assistance of divine grace, and 
an affectionate concern for the glory of my Redeemer, 
and the happiness of my fellow-creatures. It is true 
that my good tutor, whom I shall always respect as 
one of my best friends, is always ready to give me 
such cautions and admonitions as he thinks necessary ; 
and he has that happy art, which so few besides Mr. 
Jennings and Mr. Clarke possess, of giving the plain- 
est and most sincere advice with all the good-nature 
and decorum that one could desire or imagine. How- 
ever, sir, I hope you will not write the seldomer on 
that account. You may sometimes fall into reflec- 
tions which I have not heard from him ; and when it 



44 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

happens otherwise, it will be a pleasure and an ad- 
vantage to me to observe how exactly you concur in 
sentiment. 

" One reason for my answering your letter sooner, 
perhaps, than I should otherwise have done, is to 
transmit to you the following bill, which I received 
from Mr. Jennings presently after Christmas: 'To 
Christmas, 1722, half-a-year 7 s board and tuition, eight 
pounds, ten shillings; 'Spanheim's Elenchus, 7 five 
shillings and three pence; exchange of a Hebrew 
Bible, four shillings and sixpence; 'Dupin's Eccle- 
siastical History, 7 ten shillings and sixpence ; for a 
gown, one pound, fourteen shillings, and twopence ; 
in money, three pounds, three shillings, and fivepence, 
payable to Mr. Clarke of London. 7 The books are 
such as we read in our course; and which Mr. Jen- 
nings thought proper to provide for us himself. My 
old Hebrew Bible was in a very sad condition, as it 
had been used as a school-book before it came into 
my hands. In some places it was hardly legible, and 
therefore I dare say you will not blame my parting 
with it. My gown had lasted me two years, and had 
been turned and mended several times, and was at 
first but an ordinary calimanco of eighteen pence a 
yard, so that it was very necessary to have another. 
I am not aware of any considerable expense that 
could have been retrenched. I have always endeav- 
ored to avoid every thing that looks like extrava- 
gance; and you may depend upon it, shall continue 
to do so. I shall be obliged to be pretty often 
abroad this half-year ; but I have some friends in the 
congregation who will sometimes accommodate me 



HIS THEOLOGICAL STUDIES. 45 

with their horses, and I hope that most of ray jour- 
neys will pay their own charges. 

"Last Thursday my class-fellow Mr. Some and I 
were examined by his father, Mr. Bridgen, and Mr. 
Norris, three neighboring ministers, remarkable for 
their affability, candor, and Catholicism, as well as 
their learning and good-sense. They were pleased 
to declare themselves thoroughly satisfied; and we 
are to receive a certificate of approbation and recom- 
mendation from all the ministers of the county next 
general meeting. In the mean time we take our 
turns with two more for the supply of Kilworth." 

The habit of strict and conscientious economy, 
which we learn from these and numerous other let- 
ters was practised by Doddridge while dependent on 
the liberality of his generous patron, is deserving of 
notice and of commendation, and is worthy of being 
imitated by all in similar circumstances. It was not 
connected, however, either now or subsequently, with 
penuriousness. He was accustomed, years before, to 
divide with the poor peasantry, among whom his 
walks were taken, the little sums on hand, which 
others would probably have regarded it as a duty to 
expend upon their own increased comfort. 

It may be also remarked that the gown worn by 
the non-conformist ministers at that day was often of 
a dark blue color, in imitation of the color of the 
cloak used at Geneva — that famous asylum of the 
reformers, and strong-hold of the Protestant faith in 
the days of Calvin and afterwards. We are told 
that one of the family pictures represents Dr. Dod- 
dridge as wearing a gown of this sort, and a flowing 



46 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

wig. Let us here, once for all, encourage and instruct 
the poor student of our own day, by copying a few 
lines from the excellent widow of Doddridge, when 
writing to Orton his biographer, while preparing his 
memoir : " Some spice too, you will find I have sent, 
of his exact manner of keeping his accounts ; to which 
permit me to add, that I have often heard him say 
that, during the years he was at school, and after- 
wards as pupil, he never contracted any debts, and 
though his income was small, he never wanted money, 
but at the close of every year had always some cash 
in hand — that he always made it a rule to content 
himself with the table kept for the family, and never 
spent any money either in wine or tea, or any other 
unnecessary expense.' 7 

From the Rev. Samuel Clarke. 

"St. Albans, 1723. 

" Whatever acceptance you meet with as a preach- 
er, I trust you will consider as an argument to en- 
courage your endeavors after a still greater improve- 
ment of your talents. 

"One thing that young ministers have particular 
reason to study is humility. Many are their tempta- 
tions to vanity; especially if they have the advan- 
tages of superior ability and acceptance. Indulgence 
in this weakness will be a bar to the divine influence, 
for God resisteth the proud, but gives more and more 
grace to the humble. It also lessens a man very 
much in the eyes of judicious persons, who, whatever 
artful methods are taken, will still be able to discern 
and despise it. It ordinarily also takes off from the 
vigor of a man's endeavors to make further advances 



HIS THEOLOGICAL STUDIES. 47 

to improve himself. It is good, therefore, to have 
our eyes very much upon our own defects, and to think 
how much we fall short of those excellent patterns 
which we should be always proposing for our imita- 
tion. Let us not value ourselves upon, nor be much 
concerned about, the opinions of men ; but labor above 
all things for the divine approbation. 

"It is also of great importance, in all our minis- 
terial performances, to have continually in view one 
great end, which is the advancement of the interests 
of religion, and the salvation of souls ; and not only 
in the general, but in every particular ministration to 
awaken in our minds a very sensible concern about 
these matters. 

"I continue to recommend you and your studies to 
the divine blessing ; and heartily pray you may have 
the honor to be employed by our great Lord and 
Master considerably to advance his kingdom in the 
world ; to see which will be an abundant recompense 
for whatever trouble I have been at on your ac- 
count." 

To Miss Hannah Clarke. 

" April 27, 1723. 
"I have lately received an invitation to settle at 
Kibworth, and Mr. Clarke has given his consent; 
but some things have since occurred that consider- 
ably perplex, and will at least retard the affair. I 
am at present in a very uneasy agitation of mind ; 
and earnestly beg you, as a dear and Christian friend, 
to join me in prayer to that God who is the author of 
every good and perfect gift, that he would give me 
wisdom to direct my way, and providentially bring 



48 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

the affair to such an issue as may be most for his 
glory, and my improvement and usefulness." 

From Rev. Samuel Clarke. 

"St. Albans, May 11, 1723. 
" I have received yours, in which you give me an 
account of the prospect you have of an invitation to 
settle at Coventry. The acceptance Providence fa- 
vors you with, makes it necessary that you should be 
very much upon your guard against ebullitions of 
pride and vainglory, which are so natural to us all, 
and especially when we first come abroad into the 
world with advantage. Humility is the best ornament 
to valuable gifts. The shade it casts upon them makes 
them appear the more lovely, and gives them a greater 
efficacy. Let your heart be full of a sense of those 
manifold defects which an inward acquaintance with 
yourself will easily discover. Have often before your 
eyes the nature and importance of the work you are 
engaged in, and the account you have to give, and 
you will then always find reason to say from your 
heart, with the blessed apostle, " Who is sufficient for 
these things?" 

To the Rev. Samuel Clarke. 

"May 25, 1723. 
"I heartily thank you, good sir, for the excellent 
advice you give me relating to humility ; and I must 
be extremely unacquainted with my own heart, if I 
thought I did not need it. I am fully convinced in 
my own judgment, that popularity is in itself a very 
mean, as well as an uncertain thing ; and that it is 
only valuable as it gives us an opportunity to act for 
God with greater advantage ; and yet I find, by the 



HIS THEOLOGICAL STUDIES. 49 

little I have tasted, that it is of an intoxicating na- 
ture. I desire not to be solicitous about it, and hope 
I can honestly say, that when I think I have been 
instrumental in making or promoting good imprest 
sions upon the hearts of some of my hearers, it gives 
me a much nobler and more lasting satisfaction than 
I ever had in the approbation with which my plain 
discourses have sometimes been received. 

" And now, sir, I cannot but reflect, as I very fre- 
quently do, that, under God, I owe this pleasure to 
the goodness of my friends, and to your generosity 
and kindness. If God had not wonderfully provided 
for me by your means, instead of this honorable and 
delightful employment which I am now entering 
upon, and which I should from my heart choose be- 
fore any other in the world, I should in all prob- 
ability have been tied down to some dull formal 
duties, in which I should not have had any of these 
advantages for improving my mind, or so comfortable 
a prospect for usefulness now and happiness here- 
after. The only return I can make for all this 
goodness, is my thanks and my prayers. You have 
certainly the greatest claim to them ; and I hope, sir, 
you will continue to remember me in yours." 

To Miss Clarke. 

"July 15, 1723, 

" Great revolutions have happened in my little 
affairs since I wrote to you. On the first of June I 
removed from Hinckley, and am come to a little vil- 
lage in the neighborhood of Kibworth, where I am 
settled, and have laid aside all thoughts of going to 
Coventry, though I have been much solicited to do so 

Doddridge. 3 



50 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

since my coming hither. My settlement here is, on 
some accounts, pleasant, but on others, disagreeable 
enough. 

" You know I love a country life, and here we have 
it in perfection. I am roused in the morning by the 
chirping of sparrows, the cooing of pigeons, the low- 
ing of kine, the bleating of sheep, and the neighing 
of horses. We have a mighty pleasant garden and 
orchard, and a fine arbor under some tall shady limes, 
that form a kind of lofty dome, of which, as a native 
of the great city, you may perhaps catch a glimmer- 
ing idea, if I name the cupola of St. Paul's. And then 
on the other side of the house there is a large space 
which we call the wilderness, and which, I fancy, would 
please you extremely. The ground is a dainty green 
sward ; a brook runs sparkling through the middle, 
and there are two large fish-ponds at one end. Both 
the ponds and the brook are surrounded with wil- 
lows ; and there are several shady walks under the 
trees, besides little knots of young willows inter- 
spersed at convenient distances. This is the nursery 
of our lambs and calves, with whom I have the honor 
to be intimately acquainted. Here I generally spend 
the evening, and pay my respects to the setting sun, 
when the variety and beauty of the prospect inspire 
a pleasure which I know not how to express. I am 
sometimes so transported with these inanimate beau- 
ties, that 1 fancy that I am like Adam in Paradise; 
and it is my only misfortune that I have none but the 
birds of the air and the beasts of the field for my 
companions. I am very frequently alone twenty-one 
hours in the twenty-four; and sometimes breakfast, 



HIS THEOLOGICAL STUDIES. 51 

dine, and sup by myself. I cannot say that this her- 
mit life, as multitudes would call it, is very agreeable 
to my natural temper, which inclines me to society. 
I am therefore necessarily obliged to study hard; 
and if it were not for that resource, my life would be 
a burden." 

To his Sister, Mrs. Nettleton. 

" Stretton, August 25, 1723. 

"I am now settled to my business; and while I 
am engaged, am easy enough ; but at other times, am 
like a fish out of water. I have had so much good 
company at London and St. Albans, and especially 
at Hampstead, that I hardly know how to- bear up 
under the loss of it ; and the solitude to which I am 
condemned is a thousand times more disagreeable 
than it was a few weeks ago. 

"I do not know how to express my concern for 
the ill state of your health. I am really sometimes 
afraid, and I speak it with a very sad heart, that I 
shall never see you any more ; and God knows that, 
if I lose you, I lose the dearest friend I have in the 
world. I leave you, and all my other concerns, in 
the hands of that God who will certainly do that 
which is best for us both ; but I assure you, that if my 
prayers, and the prayers of a great many excellent 
friends hereabout, can keep you a few years longer 
out of heaven, you will not be there very soon." 

To Mr. David Some. 
[Occasioned by the death of his brother Thomas.] 

" October 22, 1723. 
" Dear Sir — I thought it would not be convenient 
to speak to you at Harborough, or to wait on you at 



52 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

Bowden, so soon after I came from Mount Sorrel, and 
therefore I take this way of assuring you that I sin- 
cerely condole with you upon that melancholy prov- 
idence which you and your good family are now 
mourning under. Those transports of grief which 
you could not conceal when I saw you last, as well as 
the greatness of your loss, and the known tenderness 
of your temper, persuade me that it is not at all un- 
seasonable to give you a caution against that excess 
of sorrow which too frequently prevails in the best 
of men, when, like you, they are weeping over the dust 
of a dear relative and an amiable friend. 

"I know, sir, that your own reason and good 
sense, and especially those religious principles which 
through the grace of God so apparently prevail in 
your mind, will furnish you with the noblest supports 
upon such an occasion, and therefore it is not needful 
that I should particularly remind you of their im- 
portance. I only desire that you would turn your 
thoughts that way, and instead of fixing them upon 
the aggravating circumstances of your affliction, 
would lay your bosom open to those strong conso- 
lations which reason and grace are so ready to ad- 
minister; otherwise, besides a great many other in- 
conveniences that would attend their neglect, you 
may seem to overlook those comforts which God has 
still continued to you, especially in the lives of those 
excellent parents, whereas both mine were removed 
many years before I came to your age. 

" Consider, my dear brother, that you have an 
interest in an almighty Friend, a friend whom you 
can never lose, but who will stand by you and sup- 



HIS THEOLOGICAL STUDIES. 53 

port you when all earthly comforts forsake you; 
and consider that you are hastening to a glorious and 
happy world, where you will meet with this lamented 
brother again, and for ever converse with him upon 
terms of much greater advantage. When your heart 
is warmed with such reflections as these, you will see 
the highest reason to acquiesce in the divine deter- 
mination, and to bless God for his compassion and 
goodness in providing such rich and reviving cor- 
dials for his mourning and afflicted children. 

" Instead of indulging immoderate sorrow, let us 
be careful to learn those useful instructions which 
such an awful providence is designed to teach. Let 
us learn not to amuse ourselves with the fond expec- 
tation of any certain happiness in this lower world, 
since God can so suddenly remove the dearest of our 
enjoyments, or even in a moment change our own 
countenance and send us away ; for in that day all 
such thoughts will immediately perish. Let us rather 
be forming great and generous designs for the glory 
of God and the good of the world around us ; and 
then, if Providence should see fit to remove us while 
we are young, our honest intentions shall be kindly 
rewarded, though we had not an opportunity of put- 
ting them into execution. 

"As we see that neither youth, nor health, nor 
courage, nor the promise of the most extensive use- 
fulness, could be any security to our deceased friend, 
let us be holding ourselves in a constant readiness for 
that important change, which may so soon surprise 
us ; and let us with the utmost vigor and application 
be doing the work of Him who sent us into the world, 



54 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

while it is day, before the night comes, and darkness 
overtakes us, in which no man can work. 

"P. S. Give me leave, good sir, to recommend 
to you an experiment which I have often tried myself, 
namely, to read over 1 Cor. 15:12-58. Consider, as 
you go along, that it is as certainly the word of the 
God of truth, as if it were pronounced by a voice 
from heaven, and apply this glorious promise of a 
glorious resurrection to your brother and yourself; 
and I believe it will have a happy tendency to com- 
pose your mind, and awaken hope and joy. I was so 
impressed with it, when I heard it read over your 
poor brother's grave, that really I could only weep 
that I was left behind. 2 Cor. 5 : 1-9, and 1 Thess. 
4:13-18, are also very proper to be consulted upon 
such an occasion, and in the same view. My most 
humble respects to your good father and mother, 
upon whom I intend shortly to wait at Bowden." 

To the Rev. Samuel Clarke. 

"Burton, Oct. 22, 1724. 
"I have at present a great deal of time for study, 
which I rejoice in as a great happiness. I have books 
enough to furnish me constantly with agreeable em- 
ployment. At present my thoughts are principally 
taken up with divinity and the study of the Scrip- 
tures. I am going on with Mr. Baxter's works, which 
I cannot sufficiently admire. I have been looking 
over his ' Reasons for the Christian Religion/ and I 
find a great many curious and important thoughts, 
which have not occurred to me in any of the Boylean 
Lectures which I have seen. I am now reading 
1 Pearson on the Creed/ and as I go along, compare 



HIS THEOLOGICAL STUDIES. 55 

it with Barrow, article by article. After I have de- 
spatched these works, I intend to read ' Burnet on the 
Thirty-nine Articles/ which I have hitherto only con- ' 
suited occasionally. As I consider the books I am 
now reading very valuable, I go over them with a 
great deal of care and attention ; take extracts of all 
the most curious passages, and compare them with 
Mr. Jennings' theological lectures, that they may be 
ready for use, as I have occasion. 

"I have now before me another business, which 
takes up not a little of my time. I am drawing up, 
but only for my own use, a sort of analytical scheme 
of the contents of the epistles of the New Testament. 
I have already gone through the Romans, and the 
greatest part of the first of Corinthians. I hope I 
now understand the connection of these parts of St. 
Paul's writings a great deal better than I did before. 
But I am afraid I have frequently been mistaken, 
having often been embarrassed by the different views 
in which the same passage may be considered. There 
are indeed a great many difficulties which I have not 
yet been able to make my way through, at least to 
my own satisfaction ; and where I have clearly seen 
the intended argument, I have found such objections 
against its validity as have been very perplexing, and 
will require a fuller examination, and about which I 
shall be desirous of your thoughts. Upon the whole, 
I am ready to hope that this scheme, defective as it 
is, may be of some service to me, especially in helping 
me to open the connection of any particular view which 
I may have occasion to discourse from, without the 
trouble of a long previous examination. My plan is, 



56 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

to take in the sense of every clause ; and so, as the 
thoughts lie thick, and the connection is very obscure, 
the contents are frequently as large as the chapter. 
I intend to contract them at last, and to form a second 
scheme, which will indeed be a kind of skeleton, where 
I shall omit all illustrations, digressions, transitions, 
devotional reflections, and practical quotations; and 
only exhibit in a very few words the propositions and 
proofs of the argumentative part of these writers. 
As I go along I make use of those four commentators 
which I have. I find Locke of far greater service to 
me than any of the rest. I own I cannot fall in with 
his exposition of many particular texts ; but I have 
very little to except against his general scheme, and 
his division of the matter, which seems to me to throw 
an additional light upon the whole." 

It is worthy of remark that we here discover the 
origin or basis of that great work, the " Family Ex- 
positor/ 7 upon which more than twenty years were 
subsequently expended, in connection with other 
duties. 

Scarcely had Doddridge entered on his regular 
ministerial duties at Kibworth, before pressing invi- 
tations were addressed to him to visit other much 
larger and wealthier churches, as a candidate for the 
pastorate. Congregations in the city of Coventry, 
at Per shore in Worcestershire, and in London, all 
strove to obtain his labors, and many temptations of 
various kinds might have allured him away, had not 
a strong sense of duty compelled his continuance 
with his small and poor flock. His answer to all of 



HIS THEOLOGICAL STUDIES. 51 

them was substantially the same : he was but in his 
twenty-second year, his mental furniture was compar- 
atively small, and he needed much study and expe- 
rience to prepare him for situations of so much 
importance and magnitude. 

To his Brother, the Rev. John Nettleton. 

"Burton, Dec. 8, 1724. 

"I received yours and my sister's of November the 
7th, with abundant satisfaction. The very superscrip- 
tion revived me, as it gave me ocular assurance that 
you were still in the land of the living ; a fact of which 
I began to be in some doubt. I heartily accept your 
apology, as I know both you and her too well to mis- 
take your silence for unkindness. My temper does 
not incline me to uneasy suspicions, nor will the 
agreeable and friendly manner with which you have 
always treated me, leave any room for them. 

"I find it most useful to join reading and reflec- 
tion, and would not entirely depend either on myself 
or others. I find there are many in the world who 
make a considerable figure, not only as preachers, but 
as writers, who subsist entirely upon transcribing 
other men's thoughts. This is a degree of humility to 
which I have not yet attained. In short, I consider 
books as a food we ordinary sort of animals cannot 
live without ; and yet we may possibly be overcharged, 
if we cram ourselves with more than we can digest. 
I have a pretty keen appetite, and would rather take 
up with any than with none; and yet, as I have a 
great variety at command, I am pretty nice in point 
of choice. I have lately been reading ' Barrow's 

3* 



58 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

Works/ and ' Pearson upon the Creed/ which I have 
studied with great care. I have now before me 
' Burnet on the Articles/ in which I meet with very- 
agreeable entertainment. 

" Baxter is my particular favorite. It is impossi- 
ble to tell you how much I am charmed with the de- 
votion, good sense, and pathos which are everywhere 
to be found in that writer. I cannot, indeed, forbear 
looking upon him as one of the greatest orators that 
our nation ever produced, alike with regard to copi- 
ousness, acuteness, and energy ; and if he has describ- 
ed the temper of his own heart, he appears to have 
been so far superior to. the generality of those whom 
we must charitably hope to be good men, that one 
would imagine God had raised him up to disgrace 
and condemn his brethren, by showing what a Chris- 
tian is, and how few in the world deserve the char- 
acter." 

It is pleasant to see here how Doddridge had im- 
proved in his piety and theology during the three 
years which had elapsed since he wrote, " In practical 
divinity, Tillotson is my principal favorite, and next 
to him Barrow and Scott. We have some of Good- 
win's works in the library, and some of the great Dr. 
Owen's ; but you know I am not very fond of such 
mysterious men." 

In addition to the general rules of conduct which 
Mr. Doddridge had prescribed to himself at an earlier 
period, the following rules were laid down by him in 
regard to his ministerial duties at Kibworth : 

"1. I will spend some extraordinary time in pri- 



HIS THEOLOGICAL STUDIES. 59 

vate devotion every Lord's day, morning or evening, 
as opportunity may offer, and will then endeavor to 
preach over to my own soul that doctrine which I 
preach to others. 

" 2. I will take every second evening in the week, 
in which I will spend half an hour in devotional exer- 
cises on such subjects relative to the congregation as 
[ think most suitable on that occasion. 

" 3. At the close of every week and month, I will 
spend some time in its review, that I may see how time 
has been improved, innocence secured, duties discharg- 
ed, and whether I advance or lose ground in religion. 

" 4. When I have an affair of more than ordinary 
importance before me, or meet with any remarkable 
occurrence, either merciful or afflictive, I will set apart 
some time for contemplation and to seek God upon it. 

" 5. I will more particularly devote some time 
every Friday to seek God, on account of those who 
recommend themselves to my prayers, and to pray for 
the public welfare. 

" 6. In all the duties of the oratory, I will endeavor 
to maintain a serious and affectionate temper. 

"I am sensible that I have a heart which will in- 
cline me to depart from God. May his Spirit strengthen 
and sanctify it, so that I may find him in such seasons 
of retirement, and that my heavenly Father may ac- 
cept me here, and at length openly reward me through 
Jesus Christ. Ainen." 

To his Sister, Mrs. Nettleton. 

" Burton, February 17, 1725. 
"I would not put you to so much confusion as 
would probably arise from the mention of the words 



60 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

brother and sister, which might perhaps lead your 
thoughts to recollect a sort of distant relationship 
between us, that I once thought myself exceedingly 
happy in possessing. I therefore take the liberty 
humbly to insinuate that a few lines from your fair 
hand in answer to two quarto pages which I sent you 
about a quarter of a year ago, would be exceedingly 
agreeable to 

"Your most obedient servant, 

"PHILIP DODDRIDGE." 

To his Brother, the E,ev. John ISTettleton. 

" Burton, August 5, 1725. 
"I continue to spend an hour a day on Baxter, 
whom I admire more and more. And I spend another 
on Homer, which I read in the original, with Pope's 
translation and notes. I have as yet read only to the 
end of the eighth Iliad ; but, as far as I can judge, this 
is one of the finest translations in the English lan- 
guage, and what is very extraordinary, it appears to 
the best advantage when compared with the original. 
I have read both carefully so far, and written remarks 
as I went along ; and I think I can prove that where 
Pope has omitted one beauty, he has added or improv- 
ed four." 

The Rev. Job Orton, Doddridge's first and princi- 
pal biographer, states that his remarks on Homer 
were sufficient to form a considerable volume. 

We seldom read the lives of distinguished ser- 
vants of God without being impressed with the divine 
goodness in preserving them from death in seasons of 
imminent danger. Doddridge furnished no exception 



HIS THEOLOGICAL STUDIES. 61 

to this remark. In 1725 he had paid a visit to his 
sister in the neighborhood of London, and on his re- 
turn, under the date of September 22, he wrote to her, 
describing the dangers in which he had been placed, 
and his remarkable deliverance. After telling her of 
his being one afternoon thrown twice over the head 
of his horse, he goes on to say, "As we were going, 
on Thursday morning, from Newport to Bedford, I 
escaped a much greater danger, and desire to acknow- 
ledge it with hearty thanks to the care of Providence 
which preserved me in it. We were coming along in 
a narrow lane, and met with I know not how many 
wagons of coals. I was aware of the difficulty, and 
endeavored to guard against it ; but my horse being 
a little frighted at the ditch on one side, started 
and came too near the wagons on the other. There 
was a sudden turn in the road which I did not ob- 
serve, which just at the time threw the wagon on 
towards me, so that my foot was caught in one of the 
wheels and whirled round with it for a part of its 
course, and the other came so near me after I was 
entangled, that all the lower part of my right side 
and my horse's shoulder were covered with its dirt ; 
and yet, through the goodness of God, I got not the 
least harm, not so much as a strain or bruise." 

To the Rev. Samuel Clarke. 

"Hakbokough, June 11, 1726. 
" I generally spend two hours a day in the classics, 
one in Greek and the other in Latin. I have lately 
been reading some of the ' Orations of Demosthenes/ 
which gave me very agreeable entertainment. 'Vir- 
gil's iEneid' charms me more than it ever did before. 



62 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

I am wonderfully taken with the ease and elegance of 
' Pliny's Epistles/ and with the description he gives 
of his own temper and behavior, which seems to me 
very amiable and instructive. There are indeed some 
admirable epistles in the Latin, which one can hardly 
bear to read in English; for though the thoughts 
are retained, and the translation is sometimes almost 
literal, an affectation of humor and drollery makes 
many passages mean and nauseous, which, in Pliny, are 
exceedingly pleasant, and yet perfectly elegant and 
genteel. I think this observation may be applied to 
most of the English translations of the comedies, 
especially to those from Terence. 

" My very humble service waits upon your good 
lady. Pray assure her that there is no one woman in 
the world that can destroy my esteem for her sex, 
while she, and so many others whom I have the hap- 
piness of being acquainted with, are doing so much 
to establish and increase it. I am exceedingly obliged, 
sir, for the favor of your invitation to St. Albans. I 
am sure I do not want inclination to comply with it, 
but I am chained down to the care of two congrega- 
tions which are for a while fallen into my hands, so 
that I hardly know whether I shall be able to break 
loose for one Lord's day this summer. However, you 
may depend upon it that I will attempt it, if it be 
possible." 

To the Rev. Nathaniel Wood, D. D. 

" June 11, 1726. 
"Pray remember Philip Doddridge, or he will do 
his best to forget you." 



HIS THEOLOGICAL STUDIES. 63 

To Mr. Hughes. 

"June 28, 1726. Midnight. 

"As for yours of the 20th of April, I have run it 
over so often that I can say a good deal of it by heart. 
I am essentially obliged to you for your correspond- 
ence. You know that I am naturally of a social 
temper, and you continue, in the abundance of your 
humanity, not only to give me pleasure in perusing 
your letters myself, but enable me to entertain my 
friends by communicating them ; for I read the greater 
part of them to all the persons of taste and politeness 
with whom I am conversant, and they all seem to be 
charmed with the sentiments. Indeed, though they 
become perfectly familiar to me, I always read them 
with new pleasure, and am as much transported with 
the twentieth rehearsal as I am at the first perusal. 

" You recommended Pliny. I immediately pro- 
cured him, and there is seldom a day in which I do 
not read two or three of his epistles. I had before 
heard several very high encomiums upon him, but 
nothing gave me so lively an idea of his excellence 
as to observe the perfection to which you have arrived 
by studying him, for every letter of yours is a pane- 
gyric upon Pliny, though you do not mention his 
name. Let me entreat you to go on thus to recom- 
mend him, and to increase those pleasing expectations 
with which I take him into my hand. However, take 
care you do not so far exceed him as to spoil my 
relish, for then you would rob me of one of the most 
elegant amusements of my life ; nor can I imagine how 
you would be able to make me amends in any other 
way than by the frequency of your own letters." 



64 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

To the Rev. John Nettleton. 

"Harborough, June 9, 1726. ) 
Wednesday morning, 8 o'clock, j 

" Dear Brother — I was up at five o'clock this 
morning, and I have been all this while studying the 
connection of a short section in the Romans and writ- 
ing letters. Nay, at this very moment Demosthenes 
is waiting to entertain me with one of his Philippics, 
and Virgil is bringing back iEneas to his camp, where 
I have long been waiting in pain for his absence. 
Dr. Tillotson has also prepared an admirable sermon, 
which he will quickly deliver in my chamber with his 
usual grace and sweetness. And then Gerard Brant 
will go on with his history of the Persecution of the 
Remonstrants, after their condemnation at the Synod 
of Dort. In the afternoon I expect to hear from 
Pliny, who generally favors me with two or three 
epistles in a day, though a stranger and a heathen; 
while you, a Christian minister and my brother, will 
hardly write once in a quarter of a year. Dr. Potter 
is instructing me in l Grecian Antiquities f but I fear 
I shall hardly have time to speak with him to-day. 
However, I will, if possible, attend upon my tutor 
Cradock in the morning, who is lecturing on the 
epistles with great accuracy and solidity. Besides 
this, I have a little kind of a sermon to preach in the 
family, according to my daily custom, and three or 
four letters to transcribe into shorthand. 

" Now I will leave you, who are one of the great- 
est clerks I know, to judge whether all this business 
will leave me time to say any more than, How does 
my dear sister ? Give my service to her." 



HIS THEOLOGICAL STUDIES. 65 

To the Rev. Samuel Clarke*. 

"September 20, 1726. 

" Just as I was writing this, good Mrs. Jennings 
came into my study. I know not what trifling occa- 
sion brought her hither, but I am sure it was a happy 
accident for me. I have now, for half an hour, been 
entertained with as much piety and good sense, and 
expressions of generous, undissembled friendship, as 
could be crowded into so little time. She told me — ■ 
what I am so much charmed with that I cannot con- 
ceal it from you, nor could I hear it, nor indeed can I 
write it, without tears — that she is ' relying on my 
conversation and friendship as one of the greatest 
pleasures of her life, and that she is often blessing 
God for the kind providence that brought me into 
her family.' Do not impute it to any vanity that I 
repeat this language, for I really think such a feeling 
has no part in the matter. She indeed thinks more 
favorably of me by far than I deserve : but that mis- 
take is my happiness. You, sir, that are blessed in the 
enjoyment of Mrs. Clarke, know the exquisite pleasure 
of being esteemed by a woman of an amiable charac- 
ter ; and as I rejoice that you have such a wife, so I 
am willing that you should take part in the satisfac- 
tion I have in the society of such a friend. With 
how much pleasure do I think that Providence has 
favored me with an opportunity of serving her in 
those interests which above all others are dear to 
her, the instruction of her children and her spiritual 
edification. As I question not that you are often 
praying for me. so I beg you would join with me in 



66 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

returning thanks to that God who has made such a 
gracious and indulgent provision for my happiness. 

" While I am above in my study, I find such enter- 
tainment in my books that I think I should be happy 
though I lived in a wilderness, and had no human 
creature to converse with; and when I come down 
stairs, I am ready to forget that I have a study, and 
to think I might daily grow wiser, though every book 
but my Bible were in another country. The lines 
are indeed fallen to me in pleasant places; and I 
often think that two such friends as Mrs. Jennings 
and Mr. Clarke are more than one man can reasonably 
expect, and I heartily wish that I may be enabled to 
behave so that neither you nor she may have reason 
to repent of that share in your esteem and affection 
with which you have honored your most obliged and 
most affectionate humble servant, 

"PHILIP DODDRIDGE." 

To Mr. John Massey. 

"November 20, 1726. 

" You urge me to send^you some directions upon the 
management of your studies. 

" Let us remember, my dear friend, that we are to 
place our point of life, not in an attempt to know or 
do every thing, which will certainly be as unsuccess- 
ful as it is extravagant, but in a care to do that well 
which Providence has assigned us in our peculiar 
sphere. As I am a minister, I could not answer it to 
God or my own conscience, if I were to spend a great 
deal of time in studying the depths of the law, or in 
the more entertaining though less useful pursuit of a 
nice criticism of classical writers. I would not be 



HIS THEOLOGICAL STUDIES. 67 

entirely a stranger to these things, and there are 
twenty others I would just look into, although each 
of them alone, or indeed any single branch of either, 
might be the employment of a much longer life than 
I can imagine Providence has assigned to me. Should 
I suffer my few sheep in the wilderness to go astray, 
in an ignorance of their Bible and in a stupid neglect 
of their eternal salvation, while I was too busy to 
reclaim them, God would call it but laborious idle- 
ness, and I must give up my account with shame and 
confusion. 

" The thought, my friend, may be applied, with a 
very little variation, to you. It is in the capacity of 
a tradesman that you are to serve your family and 
country, and, in them, your God; and therefore, 
although I would not have so fine a genius discour- 
aged from entertaining itself with the refined pleas- 
ures of a student, yet it would be imprudence towards 
yourself and an injury to the world to spend so much 
time in your closet as to neglect your warehouse, and 
to be so much taken up with volumes of philosophy, 
history, poetry, or divinity, as to forget to look into 
your ledger. But above all, sir, let it be your constant 
concern that study may not interfere with devotion, 
nor engross that valuable time which should be conse- 
crated to the immediate service of your God. God is 
the Father of our spirits, and it is upon this sacred 
influence that they depend for an improvement in 
knowledge as well as in holiness. Now if we are 
abandoned by Him, our genius will flag, and all our 
thoughts become languid and confused; and it will 
be in vain that we seek the assistance of books : for 



68 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

when He ceases to act by them, the most sprightly 
writers will appear dull, the most perspicuous ob- 
scure, and the most judicious trifling ; whereas, if we 
entertain a continual regard to Him in the constant 
exercise of lively devotion, we shall engage his assist- 
ance and blessing in our studies, and then our success 
will quickly appear to ourselves and to others ; the 
most difficult task will be easy, and we shall dispatch 
more in an hour than we could otherwise have done 
in a day. 

" But, what is still more desirable, when we are 
conversing with God we are preparing for that world 
of light where our capacity will be most gloriously 
improved; where we shall be surrounded by the 
wisest and best society, who will be opening daily 
new scenes of knowledge, and where God will reveal 
fresh objects by a more direct influence upon our 
spirits than any which we have hitherto known in 
our brightest or serenest moments. Let us he diligent 
and zealous in the service of our God, and we shall be 
excellent scholars a thousand years hence; while those 
who have made the greatest improvement in human 
knowledge, living in the neglect of God, are forgot- 
ten, or rather, are consigned to the gloom of ever- 
lasting darkness. Let us remember that by every 
hour which we unduly take from God to give to our 
books, we forfeit some degree of future happiness, 
which might have been the reward of that hour had 
we spent it aright. And when we consider that 
knowledge is a part of the happiness of heaven, we 
shall certainly find that, in the long run, we lose a 
great deal more than we gain by such sacrilegious 






HIS THEOLOGICAL STUDIES. 69 

encroachments, even though our studies should suc- 
ceed much more prosperously than we have reason to 
expect." 

To Mr. G-eorge Hughes. 

"November 27, 1726. 

" I begin with petitioning you for a favor, which I 
hope to obtain without much difficulty. Nothing can 
conduce more to our present tranquillity and future 
happiness than a steady and affectionate belief of a 
continual force in the principles of natural and re- 
vealed religion; and I have found my faith in them 
much confirmed by an examination of those parts of 
the subject by which the patrons of infidelity have 
endeavored to destroy it. An atheist or a deist is a 
monstrous kind of creature, which in the country we 
only know by report ; but I infer that you gentlemen 
of the town meet with them too frequently. Now I 
desire, sir, that if you should hear any of them reflect 
upon religion in general, or Christianity in particular, 
as an irrational enthusiasm, you will please inquire 
into their reasons for such a censure ; and if you find 
any thing new or curious in them, do me the favor 
to transmit them to me. I shall be glad to pursue 
the thought as far as I can, and will most cheerfully 
submit my reflections to your examination and amend- 
ment. 

" Besides this, sir, I desire that you would favor 
me with an account of any book which you think of 
value, or which bears a character in town ; and I, on 
the other hand, will freely communicate my sentiments 
as to any that I have an opportunity of perusing. 

" I have no room to add any thing but my most 



70 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

affectionate wishes and prayers that the divine favor 
may attend us both in every circumstance of our 
present and future existence, and that there may be 
the same security to you as there is to me that the 
correspondence we are entering into will be managed 
so as may be most conducive to our mutual entertain- 
ment and improvement. We are to answer to God for 
the time we spend in writing to each other, as well as in 
other employments and amusements. May we be able 
to give up this account with comfort and cheerfulness, 
as having devoted our common friendship principally 
to the service of that most indulgent Benefactor to 
whom we are obliged for all its pleasures." 

To the Rev. Mr. Hughes. 

"November 30, 1726. 

"I have not time to mention the books I have 
lately read, and will only tell you that I have gone 
over the three volumes of Burnet's History of the 
Reformation with a great deal of care. I likewise 
read the records at the end, if they seemed to prom- 
ise any thing curious, and was exceedingly entertain- 
ed by several. Hardly any thing charmed me more 
than the letters at the end of the first volume, which 
passed between the most celebrated reformers in Eng- 
land and at Zurich. You will hardly believe it, but 
I assure you it is my settled judgment, that Jewell 
writes with almost as much simplicity, elegance, con- 
sistency, and spirit, as Pliny himself; indeed, there 
seems to be a very remarkable resemblance in their 
manner. 

" I return your sermon, and will reform so much 
upon your late admonition, as not to say a word by 



HIS THEOLOGICAL STUDIES. 71 

way of panegyric; and it is a happy rebuke «that de- 
livers me from a task to which my capacity is by no 
means equal. I must, however, add, that when I read 
it last night, by way of taking my farewell, it kept 
me awake, as the victories of Miltiades did Themis- 
tocles. 

" I likewise send you my sermon, which I have 
left Master Arthur Jennings to transcribe from my 
notes. It was preached in my usual way, and has 
little to recommend it to your approbation. I send 
it to you to be examined and corrected, and then 
returned. If you would see it to the best advantage, 
let Mr. Wood read it at some leisure hour. He heard 
it, and can witness for me that it is just as I delivered 
it. I have this comfort in sending it to you, that the 
best judges are always the most candid, and that your 
friendship will so dazzle your eyes that you will either 
find or make beauties." 

To the Hev. Samuel Clarke. 

"I have lately been reading the three folios of 
Burnet's History of the Reformation in England, with 
more pleasure than I can express. He appears to be 
one of the most masterly writers ; he always retains a 
sense of the dignity of his subject, and writes with a 
majesty worthy of it. He does not study the orna- 
ments of style, but expresses himself with plainness 
and propriety, and always appears to have a most 
sincere regard to truth, even when it is least honor- 
able to the character of the bright hero of his history. 
The third volume is a supplement to the former, and 
contains many valuable passages. He there corrects 
all the mistakes which in thirty years he had discov- 



T2 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

ered in.the former parts, and states them with an air 
of candor that establishes his character for veracity on 
the surest foundation, and reflects honor on the other 
parts of his performance, of which it would not other- 
wise be susceptible. The records which he throws 
into the appendix are admirable testimonials of the 
truth of his history, and illustrate the circumstances 
of many facts and characters. 

" I have been reading ' Lucretius ? with much care. 
He is indeed, as he is commonly esteemed, a charm- 
ing poet, but he is a most contemptible philosopher ; 
nor have I yet met with a writer whose descriptions 
are finer, and whose arguments were meaner. I think 
he was no fitter to write 'De Rerum Natura/ than a 
fine landscape painter would be to compose a treatise 
on anatomy. Creech's translation is so sorrily done, 
that I should wonder at the applause it has met with 
in the world, if I did not know it is a common thing 
to give a character of a translation without compar- 
ing it with the original. 

"I have lately read ' Howe on the Spirit.' There 
are many very useful observations in it. He every- 
where breathes a most excellent temper ; and I think 
one may see more of the man, and of his way of 
preaching by this than by any other of his works 
which I have yet perused." 

To the Lady Russell. 

" April 10. 

11 It grieves me to be the messenger of such news 

as will afflict Lady Russell ; but Mr. Some wishes me 

to inform your ladyship that it has pleased God to 

remove my dear friend, his son, in the afternoon of 



HIS THEOLOGICAL STUDILo. 73 

yesterday. He had lain several days in a very com- 
fortable and cheering frame of mind ; and a few min- 
utes before his death, expressed a very cheerful hope 
of future glory. He has appointed me to preach at 
his funeral, which will be on Wednesday, from Psalm 
73:26, 'My flesh and my heart fail, but God is the 
strength of my heart, and my portion for ever ; 7 a pas- 
sage which he often repeated with great pleasure in 
the near view of an eternal world. 

" To reflect that God is the portion of our friends 
who are sleeping in death, and that he will be our 
everlasting portion and inheritance, is certainly the 
noblest support under such afflictions — a support of 
which I question not that your ladyship has often felt 
the importance ; and yet, madam, though this consid- 
eration may moderate our sorrows, it will not entirely 
silence or dispel them. For my own part, though I 
have been in daily expectation of my friend's death 
for several months together, yet it strikes me more 
deeply than I can easily express, and gives me for the 
present a disrelish to all those employments or thoughts 
which do not immediately relate to that world to 
which he is gone. Yet, in the midst of my sorrow, it 
is with pleasure that I reflect on the goodness of God 
in continuing to me so many other excellent friends, 
and among them the good Lady Russell, who is an 
extensive blessing to the world, and an ornament to 
that exalted station in which Providence has placed 
her. May mankind be as ready to imitate your char- 
acter as they are to applaud it, and then I shall hard- 
ly be able to wish them any greater good." 

Doddridge. 4 



74 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

To Mrs. Hannah Clarke. 

" April 19, 1727. 

" On Lord's-day evening, as I returned from Kib- 
worth, I called to see a dear and intimate friend, Mr. 
David Some, who used frequently to accompany me 
thither, and who had been for a considerable time in 
a delirious state, when, to my unspeakable grief, I 
found him dead. It is impossible for me to express 
how much it struck my mind. Never have I seen in 
any person of his age, which was only twenty, such 
an agreeable mixture of piety, wit, learning, honor, 
politeness, sweetness of temper, modesty, prudence, 
universal charity, and the most endearing friendship : 
in one word, he had every quality that could adorn 
the Christian, the scholar, or the man. You will 
then easily believe that he must have been unusually 
beloved in life and lamented in death. 

" What can you then imagine me to have felt, who 
was of all others, except his parents, his most intimate 
companion and friend ? We were brought up togeth- 
er at Mr. Jennings', and in the same class, and we 
there formed a most endearing friendship, which has 
been ever since increasing. He used to accompany 
me to Kibworth on the Lord's day, and surely he 
could not receive more advantage from the best of my 
sermons than I did ever from his conversation on the 
way. I could not forbear making repeated visits to 
the corpse while it yet lay unburied; and though, 
from a bloom and regularity of beauty which I have 
seldom observed, it has withered to a skeleton, yet I 
hardly knew how to leave it, but could have dwelt 
for hours together on those dear cold lips. When I 



HIS THEOLOGICAL STUDIES. 75 

followed him to the grave, I almost thought I should 
• have shared it with him, for I was nearly strangled 
in striving to repress those external marks of inward 
anguish which might seem indecent in one of my sex 
and character ; but all my efforts were vain, and while 
I was in the church I could not forbear bursting into 
such a flood of tears as I have never shown upon any 
other occasion. My spirits were so exhausted with 
sorrow, that I should have been utterly unfit for social 
conversation for the rest of the evening: how hard 
then was my task, when I was obliged to go from his 
grave into the pulpit, and to preach to one of the 
most numerous auditories I ever saw. You will be 
surprised to hear, that while I was preaching I did 
not shed a tear ; yet I think I could have died to re- 
store him to the world, which has sustained so inex- 
pressible a loss by his death." 

Among the ministers in the neighborhood of Kib- 
worth with whom Doddridge had already formed a 
ministerial friendship, was the Rev. Thomas Saunders, 
who had settled as pastor of the Congregational church 
at Kettring, in 1721. He was a lineal descendant from 
the martyr of the same name, who was burnt in the 
reign of the bloody Mary, and was himself in early 
life a servant of the Lord Jesus. He labored with 
much success at Kettring till 1736, when, at the age 
of forty-two years, he was called to his gracious and 
eternal reward. We shall often meet with him as 
the correspondent and counsellor of Doddridge. 



T6 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

To the Rev. Thomas Saunders. 

" December 2, 1727. 
" How was it possible for you to write such a let- 
ter as I received last night? You are always kind 
and good, and always more partial in favor of my 
character than any other person I know in the world ; 
and to tell you the plain truth, I would have you con- 
tinue to be so; for if it were not for that happy 
partiality, you would hardly think me worthy of your 
friendship. You can never displease me by expres- 
sions of tenderness, for I love you so well that I would 
have as much of your heart as one creature ought to 
have of another's, and I look upon your fond regard 
as my glory. But, my dear friend, you must forbear 
these expressions of unreasonable esteem. 

"I have this morning been humbling myself before 
God for the pride of my heart. It follows me whith- 
ersoever I go : into my study, into the conversation 
of my friends, and what is most dreadful of all, into 
the presence of my Maker — of that God who is the 
fountain of all perfection, from whose hands I have 
received all, and from whom I have deserved an ag- 
gravated condemnation. Such is the subtilty of this 
insinuating mischief, that I can recollect instances in 
which I have been proud of having exposed the de- 
formity of pride with success, while perhaps it was 
only another instance of my degeneracy to imagine 
that I had so succeeded. Why then must your com- 
plaisance add fuel to a fire which I sometimes fear 
will burn up all my grace and my religion ? How 
hard is it to keep self in self-subjection. This you 



HIS THEOLOGICAL STUDIES. 77 

have taught me as well as man can teach it, but God 
alone can make the excellent lesson effectual. I can 
not lay a scheme for the honor of my God and the 
benefit of the world, but self intrudes itself, and that 
sometimes to such a degree as to make me doubt 
whether the governing principle be not wrong, and 
whether many of my most valuable actions and de- 
signs be not splendida peccata. Alas, such is your 
■ pious and excellent 7 friend. 

"You compliment me on the learning and accuracy 
of my views. How are you deceived ! I have hardly 
looked into many of the most excellent treatises of 
the ancient and modern commentators, and have only 
dipped into some others so far as to see that there 
was a great deal that I was not capable of compre- 
hending, at least without a long course of preparatory 
study. There is hardly a chapter in the Bible which 
does not puzzle me, nor, in short, any considerable 
subject of human inquiry in which I do not perceive 
both my ignorance and my weakness. 

"Were there any thing which could seem a just 
excuse for my vanity, it would indeed be, that you and 
some other such excellent persons profess not only to 
love, but to respect me; but I am persuaded, nay, I 
certainly know it is only because a great portion of 
my ignorance and folly lies hid ; otherwise you would 
all but pity or despise me. And when I consider your 
humility in admitting me to such an intimate friend- 
ship, and in thinking so honorably of me, I see the 
greater reason to be abashed at the reflection that I 
have learned no more of that amiable grace, with so 
bright an example before me, and in one whom I love 



T8 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

so well that it might be expected that I should imi- 
tate him with a peculiar pleasure. 

" Let me beg your pity and your prayers ; love me 
as well as you can, but pray that I may deserve your 
affection better." 

From the Rev. Samuel Clarke. 

"December 18,1727. 
"As to the proposal of your teaching academical 
learning, though I doubt not that the furniture you 
now have, together with what you might acquire in a 
few years of continued study, would abundantly quali- 
fy you to undertake it, yet as God has given you a 
genius and abilities peculiarly fitted for the pulpit, it 
seems most desirable that you should be in a situation 
where those talents may be improved and employed 
to the greatest advantage, and which would, in all 
probability, be rather obscured by the other course of 
life. If therefore Providence should open a way for 
your settling in London, or any other considerable 
town, I think it should not be rejected for the sake 
of any views of the other sort." 

To Miss Horseman. 

" December 20, 1727. 

" I have just received the melancholy news of your 
accident, and the sad consequences with which it has 
been attended ; and indeed I cannot set myself to any 
other business until I have taken a few minutes to tell 
you how sensibly I sympathize in your sorrows. 

" I knew that my friendship for you was both sin- 
cere and tender, but I was not fully apprized of its 
degree, until it pleased God to visit you with the 



HIS THEOLOGICAL STUDIES. 19 

affliction which now lies so heavily upon you, and 
gives you a title to the compassion of strangers, and 
how much more to that of your friends. But alas, 
how vain is the compassion of human friends in a 
case like yours ; and indeed friendship, when left to 
herself, too frequently can only sit down and weep 
over the calamities which she knows not how to 
relieve. Therefore, madam, I would most importu- 
nately recommend you to the compassion of that God 
who can raise you out of all your sufferings, and can 
even make your affliction the means of your happiness. 
How happy should I esteem myself if I might be in 
any degree an instrument in his hand of promoting so 
excellent a service as the spiritual improvement of 
this afflictive providence. 

"Permit me, madam, humbly to attempt it, and 
hastily to mention a few serious hints, which I imag- 
ine may be peculiarly suitable to your present cir- 
cumstances. 

"Allow me then to urge that submission to the 
Divine will which becomes us under every chastisement. 
But this is, no doubt, your frequent reflection and dis- 
course. I am fully persuaded, madam, that you do 
not allow yourself to murmur and repine against the 
Lord who smiteth you. But pardon me if I inquire 
whether you be not too ready to forget your obliga- 
tions to love and praise. I consider it as one of the 
greatest defects in the character of some good people, 
and as the foundation of many visible irregularities, 
that they do not more delight in the contemplation 
and praise of God. Too much is this excellent work 
neglected in the midst of health and prosperity ; but 



80 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

when affliction comes, and especially when it comes in 
so fearful a form as this which has lately visited you, 
a Christian is too ready to imagine that it is enough 
to be quiet and resigned, and that he is fairly excused 
from such delightful exercises of soiil, which seem un- 
suitable to so gloomy a season. But let us learn to 
correct so unreasonable a thought, and surely a little 
reflection may teach us so to do. 

" With regard to your present circumstances — you 
are exercised by an injury, the anguish of which 
may probably exceed the imagination of those who 
have not known it by experience; but is it not a 
just foundation of joy and of praise that your life is 
still prolonged ? It is true that your behavior, so far 
as I have had the opportunity of observing it, has 
been such as could not deserve so much as the tender- 
est reproof of friendship; but you will humbly ac- 
knowledge, what indeed no human creature can deny, 
that an omniscient and holy God has seen many of- 
fences, even in a life which to men has appeared most 
unexceptionable and most amiable. And you are 
not to learn that the smallest violation of his sacred 
law may justly expose us to all the miseries of a future 
state. And is it not then a matter of praise, that you 
are yet in the land of the living, and within the reach 
of pardon and hope ? Nay, I do verily believe that 
through divine grace you are already in a state of 
reconciliation and favor with God, and in the way to 
everlasting happiness; and when you think of the 
glory that shall be revealed, and think of your own 
interest in it, surely your heart might overflow with 
thankfulness and joy, thougli your present agonies 



HIS THEOLOGICAL STUDIES. 81 

were multiplied upon you. These, madam, are noble 
resources of consolation, which should not be forgot- 
ten in your most painful moments — that God is your 
Father, Christ your Saviour, and heaven your eternal 
inheritance. 

"But further, when you attentively survey the 
present painful dispensation, you will certainly find 
that there is a mixture of mercy in it ; and is not that 
mixture of mercy in a proportionable degree a matter 
of praise ? You have suffered deeply ; but had not 
mercy interposed, you had not survived to have been 
sensible of that suffering. A very small alteration in 
the circumstances of your fall might have made it 
fatal to- your life. You are made to possess days of 
anguish, and wearisome nights are appointed unto 
you ; but does not an indulgent Providence surround 
you with comforts, which assuage your sense of that 
distress? I need not insist upon those instances 
which so grateful a heart cannot overlook. You 
recollect the piety and tenderness of your excellent 
parent ; you observe the respect and affection of many 
other agreeable and valuable friends ; you review that 
affluence of worldly possessions which, through the 
divine goodness, is flowing in upon you, and furnishes 
you with the most judicious advice, the most proper 
remedies, and the most agreeable accommodations and 
entertainments which your present circumstances can 
require or admit; and in the force of these united 
considerations you will own that it is reasonable, 
even now, to praise the Lord, who is daily loading 
you with benefits, and vastly overbalances your afflic- 
tion with mercy. 

4* 



82 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

"But what if I should proceed still further, and 
maintain not only that it is your duty to praise God 
for his other mercies, though he has afflicted you, but 
even to praise him for this affliction, as in itself a 
mercy. I should then say no more than the Scripture 
warrants, when it exhorts us ' in every thing to give 
thanks, 7 and tells us that ' all things work together for 
good to them that love God. 7 

"I know, madam, and I persuade myself that you 
seriously consider that the interests of the soul are 
vastly more valuable than those of the body. Now 
it is certain that such a calamity as this may be the 
means of great improvement and advantage to your 
soul. It may wean your heart from the world, and 
fix it upon God ; it may make you a more lively and 
zealous Christian, and consequently more happy and 
useful in this life, and more glorious throughout the 
ages of eternity. And if it has a tendency to pro- 
mote so exalted an end, you have certainly reason to 
bless God for it, though it be attended with some 
trying circumstances; as you would approve and be 
thankful for the setting of a broken bone, though it 
were a very painful operation, since it was so subser- 
vient, and indeed so necessary, to the future pleasure 
and usefulness of life. 

"As all afflictions have, by the divine blessing, a 
tendency to lead the mind into serious reflections ; so 
every particular trial has its own peculiar advantages, 
which it is proper for us to study while we are under 
its pressure. 

"That I may give my dear and excellent friend 
all the assistance I can, I will mention some heads of 



HIS THEOLOGICAL STUDIES. 83 

religious contemplation which occur to my thoughts 
as peculiarly proper to be dwelt upon while we are 
actually in pain. And if it please God to impress 
them deeply upon your mind, you will find that it will 
be worth your while to have borne the smart of an 
affliction which may prove so instructive and bene- 
ficial. 

"1. It is now peculiarly proper to consider how 
insupportably dreadful the wrath of God must be. 
If one drop of the divine displeasure, or a single 
stroke, which he inflicts in love upon his child, be 
sufficient to throw us into so much distress, Oh, what 
must it be to fall into the hands of God, as an irrec- 
oncilable enemy, and to stand the shock of that 
horrible tempest which he shall pour out upon the 
finally impenitent? If it be so difficult to bear the dis- 
order of one single limb, when other circumstances 
around us are just as we could wish them to be, and 
the tenderest friends are doing their utmost to sup- 
port us under our sorrows, what must it be to dwell 
for ever in that region of horror, when every member 
of the body and every faculty of the soul shall be- 
come the seat of torment, and every surrounding 
creature and circumstance conspire to aggravate and 
inflame it? Fly, Oh my soul, from so dreadful a con- 
demnation; abhor the thought of any thing which 
might expose thee to it ; and adore the riches of that 
redeeming love, by which thou art delivered from 
going down into the pit. 

" 2. Another very proper reflection in our hours 
of pain may be, how rich was the love of Jesus Christ, 
who would endure so much suffering for our salvation. 



84 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

Do I find it, you will say, so difficult a matter to bear 
up under my present anguish, though only one mem- 
ber of my body suffers? what then did my Saviour 
feel when he was expiring under the agonies of the 
cross? What was it to have the tenderest parts of 
his body pierced with thorns and with nails, and to 
be stretched out upon the cross, as on a rack, until 
almost every joint was dislocated, which you know, 
madam, was the common pain of crucifixion ; besides 
all that intolerable torment which threw him into a 
bloody sweat, where no human cause of agony was 
near him. Little, my Redeemer, little can I con- 
jecture of the bitterness of thine agonies from the pain 
I now feel ; but since what I now feel is so acute and 
so grievous, let me take a few moments from my sor- 
rows and my groans to admire and celebrate thy 
inconceivable love, which bore that sorrow which 
was infinitely more dreadful. 

"3. When we feel ourselves in pain, it is pecul- 
iarly proper to reflect on the great mercy of God in 
having formerly given us so much ease. How many 
have been continued in life while surrounded with 
innumerable calamities and accidents, which might 
not only have been painful but mortal to me ; and in 
this present year, how many days and how many 
weeks have there been in which I have enjoyed unin- 
terrupted ease, or rather, how few hours and moments 
have there been in which I have felt even the slightest 
uneasiness. If God has changed the dispensation of 
his providence towards me, may I feel the value of 
that mercy of which I was then so insensible. Let 
me now praise him for that ease and comfort which I 



HIS THEOLOGICAL STUDIES. 85 

formerly enjoyed, but undervalued; since it might 
probably be the design of this present affliction to 
rebuke my former insensibility, and recover that trib- 
ute of praise which I had neglected immediately to 
pay. 

"4. When we feel pain taking hold of us, we may 
reflect how much reason we have to pity the pains 
and the sorrows of others. I have too often been 
forgetful of them when absent, and have been too 
negligent in praying for them, though perhaps their 
case has been attended with very lamentable circum- 
stances. Now I know, by my own experience, a part 
of what they felt, and perhaps no more than a part. 
Let me learn then, after the example of my Redeem- 
er, by my own sufferings, to sympathize with my 
brethren in this ; and let me impart such compassion 
to them as I now desire from those who are around 
me. 

"5. When we are under pain of body, it is proper 
to reflect how vain is every thing in this world, and 
how infinitely preferable an interest in the Divine fa- 
vor. One such day, indeed, as many of those which 
you have lately passed, may serve better than a thou- 
sand arguments to convince you of this fact. How 
has the accident of a moment impaired your relish for 
many entertainments which were before exceedingly 
agreeable. Those things in which the greater part 
of mankind place their supreme happiness, are little 
or nothing in these afflictive moments. The delicacy 
of food, the ornaments of dress, nay, even the conver- 
sation of friends, are not now what you esteemed 
them a few days ago. But you find, madam, that 



86 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

your God is still the same ; and that the thought of 
your interest in him grows more and more delightful, 
in proportion as the charms of created objects fade 
and disappear. Yet, when your health and strength 
are completely restored, as I pray they may speedily 
be, may not created vanities again grow too charm- 
ing, and tempt your heart to forgetfulness of God ? 
But then, madam, I hope you will recollect the view 
in which they appeared in the days of weakness and 
of pain ; and the more carefully you attend to such 
considerations now, the more likely will you then be 
to recollect them with advantage. 

"6. In your present affliction, it is peculiarly 
proper for you to think of that heavenly world 
which is, I verily believe, the great object of your 
hope, and may, through grace, be your eternal inher- 
itance. All the storms and troubles of life should 
but force us into that blessed harbor. And I am 
persuaded that our views of heaven would be more 
affecting, if we were to consider it as a place where 
we shall be free, not only from afflictions in general, 
but from that particular affliction which at present 
lies so heavily upon us, and is therefore apprehended 
in all its aggravations. It is indeed delightful, under 
such sorrows, to reflect upon that world where pain 
shall never come. my soul, dwell upon the thought, 
and in that view breathe after it, and rejoice in its 
expectation. 

"If these thoughts, which appear so proper in your 
present circumstances, be seriously attended to and 
pursued, you will soon perceive their advantage. 
Your heart will come like gold out of a furnace of 






HIS THEOLOGICAL STUDIES. 87 

fire, ' purified seven times; 7 and, upon the whole, you 
will reap such happy fruits, both for time and for 
eternity, from this calamitous event, that you will no 
longer have room to question whether it be not the 
proper subject of your praise. 

"I am surprised to see, that before I was aware 
my letter has swelled into a sermon. But I find in 
this, as in other instances, that it is easy to speak out 
of the abundance of the heart; which I am sure I 
ever do, when I give an utterance to my sentiments 
of friendship towards you. There is perhaps a plain- 
ness and freedom in what I have written, which, to 
some other persons, 1" might think necessary to excuse : 
but I will not make any apology to you ; for I am sure 
you have so much good sense as to see, and so much 
candor as to believe, that this freedom proceeds only 
from respect and tenderness. 

"I am, dear madam, your most affectionate and 

humble servant, 

"PHILIP DODDRIDGE." 

To Mr. Whittingham. 
[On his entertaining some doubts concerning the Christian Re- 
ligion.] 

"Harborotjgh, Feb. 18, 1728. 

"It was with a great deal of pleasure that I saw 
the name of my very agreeable friend Mr. Whitting- 
ham at the bottom of a letter I received on Wednes- 
day morning ; and I am not at all c disgusted at the 
subject' he proposes to be debated in our future cor- 
respondence. 

"It does not ' terrify me' to hear that a person 
whom I sincerely love, and for whose character I have 



88 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

the truest regard, has entertained some doubts which 
he cannot entirely get over, concerning a book which 
his earliest instructors recommended to him as the 
word of God. It is certainly the duty of every ra- 
tional creature to bring his religion to the strictest 
test, and to retain or reject the faith in which he has 
been educated, as he finds it capable or incapable of 
a rational defence. I perfectly agree with Lord 
Shaftesbury in his judgment, that religion has not so 
much to fear from its weighty adversaries who give 
it exercise, as from its fond nurse who overlays it out 
of an excess of tenderness. I therefore do not only 
allow, but entreat you to urge all your strongest ob- 
jections to Christianity, and to represent them in the 
most forcible light ; and if then, upon the whole, I am 
convinced in my judgment that they are more than a 
balance to those arguments which support it, I will 
frankly confess myself a deist, and rather throw my- 
self on Providence, and the charity of my new breth- 
ren, than purchase the most comfortable maintenance 
at so dishonorable a price as contradicting the con- 
viction of my conscience, and speaking lies in the name 
of the Lord. On the other hand, I must entreat you, 
sir, to enter upon the inquiry with a solemnity and 
composure of mind answerable to its awful impor- 
tance; remembering that we are searching into a 
matter in which our views for immortality are con- 
cerned — those pleasing, or dreadful views, before 
which all the hopes and fears that relate only to this 
transitory life fade away and disappear, like twinkling 
stars in the blaze of the meridian sun; considering, 
also, that if it be really true that God has sent his 



HIS THEOLOGICAL STUDIES. 89 

own Son into the world to recover a race of degen- 
erate creatures at the expense of his own blood, and 
to fix them in a state of everlasting perfection and 
glory, it must be infinitely fatal to desert his relig- 
ion, and to treat him like an impostor, without the 
most serious and impartial examination. Nay, 
though, after all, Christianity should only prove an 
agreeable dream, yet, as it pretends to the authority 
of the Supreme Being, and is supported with argu- 
ments which have at least some plausible appearance, 
it will argue a want of reverence to Him, and con- 
sequently may expose us to His high displeasure 
to reject it lightly, before we clearly see into the 
falsehood of its pretensions. Persist therefore in 
your resolution to weigh the question in an impartial 
balance, and avoid a precipitate judgment. Above 
all, let me indulge my friendship to you so far as to 
remind you of what a person of your wisdom cannot 
but know, that our faculties are weak, and that we 
are exceedingly apt to be imposed upon by false rep- 
resentations. Let that fact engage you to humility, 
and so to depend upon divine illumination, and ear- 
nestly pray to the God of truth that he will not suffer 
you to fall into error, but will guide your reason in 
such a manner as may establish your mind in an un- 
shaken tranquillity. 

"Every sober and rational deist must own there 
is no enthusiasm in such advice ; and if it be pursued, 
and the whole tenor of your life be agreeable to such 
principles, I am confidently persuaded you will never 
be undone by speculative mistakes. 

" With regard to your future letters, I must desire 



90 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

you to let me know, in the first place, how far your 
scruples proceed; whether they extend only to the 
inspiration of the Scriptures, which is all that your 
letter imports; or whether they relate to the truth 
of the facts on which Christianity is built, or to the 
whole system of divine revelation? I take it for 
granted in this letter, that you believe the existence 
and perfections of God, and in the certainty of a fu- 
ture state ; but if your doubts extend to these points 
also, it is evident that they must be examined in the 
first place, before we can proceed with the other ques- 
tions to any purpose. 

"I have nothing further to add, but that I desire 
the cause of religion may not suffer by my incapacity 
to defend it to the greatest advantage ; and that after 
all I shall have said, if you remain unsatisfied, you 
would have recourse to some other more competent 
correspondent." 

From Mr. Whittingham. 

"London, Jan. 3, 1728. 

"I received your kind and generous letter, which 
I had answered sooner, but that I have lately been 
informed of the bad consequences arising from a gen- 
tleman's corresponding with his friend freely on this 
subject, whose letters were found in the closet of that 
friend after his decease. It is for this reason that 
I omit subscribing my name to this, and desire, by 
the same post that brings your reply, you would in- 
close it, not in your answer, but in a blank cover, 
directed to me as below. 

" I would offer, by way of apology for the defects 
you will find in the method of my reasoning, or the 



HIS THEOLOGICAL STUDIES. 91 

unaptness of the expressions that I may make use of, 
that disputation is what I am the greatest novice in, 
and that my pen has hitherto been only employed in 
the quaint style that is used in business ; but knowing 
your good-nature, why do I make excuses? 

"I agree with you that the premises must be first 
settled before we can argue to advantage. I do 
therefore own that there is a Being of infinite perfec- 
tion, the origin and cause of all things, whom I call 
God. But that the authors of the several books con- 
tained in the Old and New Testaments were inspired 
by Him, I am not so clear in. 

"I shall not inquire into the evidence which sup- 
ports the several facts related in them; it being 
perhaps impossible, at this distance of time, to come 
to a fair view of the circumstances on which the proof 
of them depends. My objection lies against the whole 
scheme of what is called the divine revelation. 

"1. I argue from the perfections of God's nature, 
that he would not make such a revelation to his crea- 
tures which they had not faculties to examine. Now 
this examination, I apprehend, must be made by com- 
paring what is said to be revealed with the natural 
notions which we cannot but entertain of the divine 
perfections. 

"2. From the same perfections in the nature of 
the divine Being, I infer that nothing can belong to 
Him which is either capricious or malicious. If, there- 
fore, any thing is ascribed to Him which can proceed 
from nothing but a disposition either partial, cruel, or 
vindictive, I am taught by the aforesaid natural idea 
of Him, to reject it. 



92 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

"Now, because the scheme before us contains 
things of the above-mentioned kind, it wants, with 
me, the most proper inducement to a belief of its au- 
thority. For however a thing may appear attested 
by human evidence, in relation to God, I can pay no 
respect to it, if its principles are unworthy of God. 

"Now the assumed revelation in question, if I un- 
derstand it, sets forth that God did, by design, create 
a race of creatures who he knew would offend him; 
for which offences he designed everlastingly to punish 
them; excepting some few, whom, for no other reason 
than his own good will and pleasure, he resolved to 
save, by sending his own Son to die for them, leaving 
the rest to feel the effects of his vengeance to all 
eternity. 

"3. A being capable of this, I cannot think be- 
nevolent, consistently with any natural ideas of good- 
ness or justice ; nor can I pay him the true worship of 
love and esteem. I may, indeed, as the Indians are 
represented to adore the devil, stand in awe and fear 
of such malevolence, lest it should destroy me. 

"If you can prove to me that I have mistaken the 
scheme, or that it is agreeable to the best notion man 
can form of a Deity, then shall I own that a consider- 
able objection is removed. 

" So, begging your answer to this as soon as your 
convenience will permit, together with your compli- 
ance with the request I make in the beginning of it, 
I remain, dear sir, your most humble servant." 



HIS THEOLOGICAL STUDIES. 93 

To Mr. Whittingham. 

" Harborotjgh, Jan. 16, 1728. 

"I shall endeavor to conform to the directions you 
give me as to the management of your letters ; and 
have accordingly sent back the first which I received. 
I hope you will pardon me that I keep the other a 
few days longer, till I have leisure to answer it more 
fully than my affairs will now permit me to do. The 
apology you make for a confusion of thought, and 
impropriety of expression, is so very needless, that I 
shall take no further notice of it, than to tell you 
that I rejoice in the hope of seeing those admirable 
talents which God has given you, employed at length 
in the defence of that revelation which you now scru- 
ple to admit. 

"I very readily acknowledge that you have fallen 
on a considerable difficulty in the Christian scheme. 
You seem to apprehend that our assumed revelation 
represents God as a cruel or a capricious being. As 
I am directly of the contrary opinion, I propose very 
carefully to consider all that you have urged for the 
proof of your assertion; but as this will require 
rather more leisure than some other circumstances 
will at present allow me to bestow upon it, I must 
beg your patience for about a fortnight ; and I rather 
choose thus to trespass upon it than to offer any loose 
and indigested thoughts on so important a subject and 
to so ingenious a correspondent. 

"At present I shall content myself with offering a 
remark upon a hint which you drop in the preface, 
which appears to me of far greater importance than 
you, sir, seem to be aware of. 



94 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

"When you decline inquiring into the evidence 
which supports the several facts related in Scripture, 
it is with this insinuation, that it may perhaps be im- 
possible at this distance of time to collect a fair view 
of the circumstances on which the proofs of such facts 
must depend ; and so you seem to take it for granted, 
as a first principle, that there is no external evidence 
in support of Christianity which can give sufficient 
satisfaction to an inquisitive mind ; and that therefore, 
by a natural consequence, you have nothing to do but 
to consider it as an hypothesis, and so may be fairly 
excused in rejecting it without any further inquiry, if 
you can fix upon it any one unanswerable difficulty. 

" This, sir, is a very easy way of thinking ; but par- 
don me if I say that I apprehend it to be a mistake 
of the utmost importance. I have, indeed, some right 
to say that your supposition is very ill-grounded, for 
it has been one great business of my life, for several 
years, to inquire into the evidence of those facts which 
you suppose incapable of any convincing evidence at all; 
and I do faithfully assure you that the more I have 
examined them, the more reason I have found to be- 
lieve them, and that I have never met with any thing 
in the most celebrated writings of Jews or Deists 
which has been able to overturn them. 

" I hope you will not imagine that I say this to 
persuade you to rest upon my judgment, and believe 
it on my word ; that would be a favor which it would 
be as shameful for me to ask as for you to grant, but 
I imagine the declaration I have made will be to you, 
who think so much better of my understanding than 
it deserves, an engagement not to throw by the exam- 



HIS THEOLOGICAL STUDIES. 95 

ination in this indolent way, on a presumption that it 
is impossible to come at any satisfaction in it. 

"I imagine that nothing could be more proper in 
the present circumstances than for you to consider, 
with the utmost seriousness, what our most celebrated 
divines have said upon the subject. It is the happi- 
ness of the present age to abound with some of the 
most learned and judicious defences of Christianity 
which the world has ever seen. I would not trouble 
you to peruse them all, but Dr. Clarke's Sermons at 
Boyle's Lectures, Mr. Chandler's Discourses upon the 
Miracles, and Mr. Butler's, which he calls the Reason 
of Christ and his Apostles Defended, are so short and 
so plain that they may easily be perused in about a 
fortnight, or at most a month; and I imagine that 
from any one of them, and much more from all, you 
will find arguments which no Deist can possibly an- 
swer to the satisfaction of a diligent and impartial 
inquirer. I am at least confident of this, that a man 
of your candor will readily allow, on that examina- 
tion, that the arguments for Christianity are not des- 
picably weak, but that there are some difficulties in 
rejecting it which a serious and prudent man will not 
easily get over. Now as you, sir, are a rational crea- 
ture, and certainly answerable to God for your con- 
duct in this most important affair, it must be your 
concern to embrace that side of the question which, 
on the whole, is loaded with the least difficulty and 
supported by the best evidence ; and it is the principal 
design of this letter to remind you of this duty. 

"If you still urge that* you cannot yield to any 
evidence in a case pregnant with unanswerable diffi- 



96 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

culties, I entreat you to review that matter a little 
more attentively. You firmly believe the existence 
of a God, whom you think of as a being infinitely 
perfect. Now I am confident that I could propose a 
catalogue of difficulties relating to several of the di- 
vine attributes, which must certainly belong to a self- 
existent being, which it is not in the power of human 
reason to solve, and which are perhaps beyond the 
understanding of any creature. I am sure they are 
to me far more considerable than any difficulties 
peculiar to Christianity ; yet we believe in the exist- 
ence of God, notwithstanding this mixture of obscu- 
rity and ignorance, because the difficulties of the 
atheistical scheme are greater than those; and I do 
persuade myself that you will readily allow, on the 
same principle, that if the evidence of Christianity be 
really important, it ought in like manner to take the 
place of Deism, though there may be twenty unac. 
countable peculiarities in the scheme. 

" To make you more sensible of the justice of this 
reasoning, which I fear is too generally forgotten, give 
me leave to mention one case which is so nearly allied 
to the objection you urge against Christianity as to 
be on that account peculiarly proper on this occasion. 

"Suppose yourself to have existed before the crea- 
tion of this lower world, in some heavenly region 
where you had only been acquainted with purity and 
happiness, and seen God shine forth upon his creatures 
with the beams of the mildest and most uninterrupted 
benevolence. Imagine that in these circumstances you 
had met with another spirit of the like character and 
condition with yourself, who had brought you the 



HIS THEOLOGICAL STUDIES. 97 

news of the creation of the earth, and who, after hav- 
ing described it in all the original perfection in which 
it appeared when it came immediately out of the hand 
of God, had presented you with two different plans 
for the conduct of Providence towards the human 
race which was then rising to take possession of this 
delightful abode. 

" Imagine that in the first of these plans you had 
seen every thing beautiful and every thing glorious, 
and this beauty and glory permanent and unfading. 
Suppose it had represented mankind as flourishing in 
immortal vigor, surrounded by all the ornaments and 
pleasures of which earth can be the scene, and man 
a thousand times happier than any external accommo- 
dations could make him, in the just poise and regula- 
tion of his passions, and a constant obedience to the 
dictates of reason. Suppose it had represented all 
the inhabitants of the peopled world as of one lan- 
guage and of one heart, all overflowing with mutual 
benevolence to each other, every one consulting the 
happiness of all, and all animated by the most lively 
gratitude and love to the great Author of their being 
and their felicity, and consequently always regarded 
by him as his children ; defended from the assaults of 
every thing that might either injure or seduce them, 
and in one word, continued through a long succession 
of ages in all the pleasures of innocence and paradise 
till they were transported by some gentle and delight- 
ful passage to nobler abodes, there gradually to im- 
prove in perfection and glory through all the ages of 
an eternal existence. 

" Suppose that the other scheme had represented 

Doddridge. 5 



98 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

mankind in a state of degeneracy, confusion, and 
misery. Imagine that in surveying the plan, you had 
seen some numerous nations of savage barbarians, 
who appeared to retain little more than the shape of 
men ; and thousands more lost in superstition, and de- 
basing the faculties of the rational nature in the vilest 
and most stupid idolatry. Suppose you beheld the 
desolation of war in one country, of famine in another, 
and of pestilence in a third; or perhaps all these 
united calamities prevailing on the same unhappy 
spot ; and besides all this, had discovered by far the 
greater part of mankind, in the most temperate cli- 
mates, the most civilized nations, and the most peace- 
ful times, neglecting and perhaps despising religion 
and violating all the plainest precepts of humanity, 
every one eagerly pursuing his own private interests 
with all the restless anxieties of hope and fear, desire 
and sorrow, and each in subserviency to the mean 
design of supplanting and defrauding, annoying and 
reviling all whom he apprehends to stand in his way. 
In one word, imagine that you saw, in this mental 
picture, all that irregularity and meanness, that vil- 
lany and torment, which you cannot but see in your 
extensive acquaintance, or within the circle of your 
own intelligence. 

"And then imagine that after this attentive review 
your companion had left it to you to judge which of 
these schemes would probably have taken place under 
the government of a Being infinite in power, in wis- 
dom, and in goodness ; can you believe that you would 
have hesitated one moment about it ? You would, no 
doubt, have been ready to laugh with indignant scorn 



HIS THEOLOGICAL STUDIES. 99 

at any one who could imagine that God would prefer 
the latter to the former ; and yet you see, upon the 
whole, that he has preferred it; unless you will say he 
could not prevent misery and sin ; and then the dis- 
pute turns upon another footing, quite different from 
the present question. 

" The plain consequence of this is, that it undoubt- 
edly appears that in fact a scheme which has very 
great difficulties attending it exists; may not then 
another, which merely in idea appears very improba- 
ble, nevertheless be a true scheme, and ought it there- 
fore to be rejected merely on account of its difficulties 
without examining the evidence which accompanies 
it? This observation, as well as the instances by 
which I have endeavored to illustrate it, has a pecul- 
iar weight in questions relating to the divine gov- 
ernment, when, if we are not distracted with an arro- 
gant conceit of ourselves, we must allow that there 
may very probably be a great many things which lie 
entirely beyond our present reach. 

11 You will easily see that the tendency of this rea- 
soning is only to engage you in that inquiry which I be- 
fore recommended. I heartily wish you success in it." 

To the Uev. Thomas Saunders. 

"Harbokough, Nov. 1728. 
" Mr. Some informed me some time ago that you 
desired an account of Mr. Jennings 7 method of aca- 
demical education, and as I was one of the last pupils 
my dear tutor sent out, I suppose he thought I might 
have his scheme fresh in my memory, which is the 
only reason I can give for his applying to me to write 
to you on the occasion. 



100 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

" Our course of education at Kibworth was the 
employment of four years, and every half year we 
entered upon a new set of studies, or at least changed 
the time and order of our lectures. 

" The first half year we read geometry or alge- 
bra thrice a week, Hebrew twice, geography once, 
French once, Latin prose authors once, classical ex- 
ercises once. Our academical exercises were trans- 
lations from some of the Latin authors into English, 
or from English into Latin. Many passages* in the 
Spectators and Tattlers, both serious and humorous, 
were assigned to us upon those occasions. For He- 
brew we read Bythner's grammar. 

"The second half year we ended geometry and 
algebra, which we read twice a week. We read 
logic twice, civil history once, French twice, He- 
brew once, Latin poets once, exercises once, ora- 
tory once. We had a collection of readings on the 
subject of every lecture, which frequently employed 
us in our closets for two or three hours, and we were 
obliged to give an account of the substance of these 
references at our next lecture. We were often set to 
translate Tillotson into Sprat's style, and vice versa. 
At other times we used to reduce arguments which 
were delivered in a loose, and perhaps a confused 
manner, into a kind of algebraic form, by which the 
weakness of many plausible harangues would very 
evidently appear at the first glance. Our other ex- 
ercises were principally orations, of which the mate- 
rials were suggested by Mr. Jennings himself, or from 
some books to which we were referred. 'Bacon's 
Essays ' were often used on this occasion, and our 



HIS THEOLOGICAL STUDIES. 101 

exercises were a kind of comment on some remarka- 
ble sentences which they contained. On Tuesday 
nights we used to spend an hour in reading the Bible, 
sermons, or poems, purely to form ourselves to a just 
accent and pronunciation. One would hardly imag- 
ine if one had not heard the alterations which three 
or four of these evenings have made in a youth's 
reading. 

" The third half year we read mechanics, hydro- 
statics, and physics twice; Greek poets once; history 
of England once ; anatomy once ; astronomy, globes, 
and chronology once; miscellanies once; and had 
one logical disputation in a week. Our logical dis- 
putations were in English, our thesis in Latin, and 
neither the one nor the other in a syllogistic form. 
One of the class made the thesis, each of the rest read 
an exercise, which was either in prose or in verse, in 
English or Latin, as we ourselves chose. I think 
English orations were most common, and turned, I 
believe, to the best account. 

"The fourth half year we read pneumatology 
twice a week, the remainder of physics and miscel- 
lanies once, ' Jewish antiquities 7 twice. Our Pneu- 
matology contained an inquiry into the existence and 
nature of God, and into the nature, operations, and 
immortality of the human soul, on the principles of 
natural reason. This, with our divinity, which was 
a continuation of it, was by far the most valuable 
part of our course. 

■ The fifth half year we read ethics twice a week, 
critics once, and had one pneumatological disputation. 
Our ethics were a part of pneumatology : the princi- 



102 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

pal authors referred to were Grotius and Pufifendorf. 
Our critical lectures were not criticisms upon any 
particular texts, but general observations relating to 
the most noted versions and editions of the Bible. 

"The sixth half year we read divinity thrice a 
week, Christian antiquities once, miscellanies once, 
and had one homily on a Thursday night. In divini- 
ty we had references to authors of all opinions, but 
Scripture was our only rule. Our homilies were dis- 
courses delivered from a pulpit. They were confined 
to subjects of natural religion, and we had no quota- 
tions from the Scriptures otherwise than for illustra- 
tion, most of our citations being taken from the an- 
cient poets and philosophers. They cost us abun- 
dance of pains, and were reviewed by Mr. Jennings 
before they were delivered. 

" The seventh half year we read divinity thrice, 
ecclesiastical history once, had one sermon, and one 
theological disputation. Mr. Jennings examined our 
sermons himself; we preached them to our own fami- 
ly, and sometimes to the people in his hearing. 

" The last half year we read divinity once a 
week, history of controversies once, miscellanies once, 
and had one theological disputation. These miscel- 
lanies were a second volume, containing a brief his- 
torical account of the ancient philosophy, the art of 
preaching, and the pastoral care ; on which heads Mr. 
Jennings gave us very excellent advice, with some 
valuable hints on the head of non-conformity. We 
preached this last half year either at home or abroad, 
as occasion required, and towards the beginning of 
it were examined by a committee of the neighboring 



HIS THEOLOGICAL STUDIES. 103 

ministers, to whom that office was assigned at a pre- 
ceding general meeting. 

"Mr. Jennings never admitted any into his acad- 
emy till he had examined them as to their improve- 
ment in school learning, and on their capacity for 
entering on the course of studies which he proposed. 
He likewise insisted on satisfaction as to their moral 
character, and the marks of a serious disposition. 

" The first two years of our course we read the 
Scriptures in the family from Hebrew, Greek, or 
French into English. Mr. Jennings drew up a scheme 
which comprehended the whole of the New Testament, 
and the most useful parts of the Old, by which we pro- 
ceeded. He expounded about ten lessons in a week, 
sometimes in the morning, and sometimes in the even- 
ing. On those days when he did not expound, we 
read the lessons over again which had been formerly 
expounded, and so went over the most important parts 
of the Scriptures twice, at a convenient distance of 
time. These expositions were all extempore, but very 
edifying; and it is with a great deal of satisfaction 
that I often review some hints which I sometimes 
took of them. 

" Once a month, on a Friday before the Lord's sup- 
per, we laid aside all secular business to attend to de- 
votion. Those who thought proper, as several did, 
observed it as a fast. About ten in the morning we 
all met, and Mr. Jennings gave us a lecture which he 
had carefully prepared for the purpose; he wrote it 
out in long-hand, and allowed us to transcribe it if 
we thought fit. I have copies of all of them, which I 
set a great value upon. His two discourses of ' Preach- 



104 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

ing Christ/ and ' Experimental Preaching/ were com- 
posed and delivered on such an occasion, and the sub- 
jects of the text were accommodated to our characters 
and circumstances of life. 

" Every evening an account was taken of our pri- 
vate studies. We repeated to him immediately after 
prayer something which we had met with, which we 
judged most remarkable. By this means all enjoyed 
some benefit from the studies of each. It engaged us 
to read with attention, and the reflections our tutor 
made, and the advices he gave were well worth our 
observation and remembrance. We were obliged to 
talk Latin within some certain bounds of time and 
place. If any case of difficulty happened we exam- 
ined into it, and often had long pleadings on both 
sides, and at last the cause was determined by the 
votes of the majority. The time of these debates was 
immediately after we had given an account of our 
private studies. 

" Every Lord's-day evening Mr. Jennings used to 
send for some of us into the lecture-room, and dis- 
coursed with each apart about inward religion. The 
discourse was generally introduced by asking us what 
we observed as most remarkable in the sermon. He 
took this opportunity of admonishing us of any thing 
he observed amiss in our conduct, and he always did 
it in a most engaging manner. After this we met at 
seven for family prayer. Before prayer one of us 
either repeated the sermon we had heard, or read 
some portion of a practical writer which we ourselves 
chose. And then, after singing and prayer, Mr. 
Jennings examined those of the first class in the 



HIS THEOLOGICAL STUDIES. 105 

'Assembly's Larger Catechism/ in which he gave us 
a historical account of the belief of other parties of 
Christians relating to the several articles which are 
matter of controversy. 

"Mr. Jennings allowed us the free use of his 
library, which was divided into two parts: the first 
was common to all, the second was for the use of the 
Seniors only, consisting principally of books of philos- 
ophy and polemical divinity, with which the Juniors 
would have been confounded rather than edified. At 
our first entrance on each we had a lecture, in which 
Mr. Jennings gave us the general character of each 
book, and some hints as to the time and manner of 
perusing it. We had fixed hours of business and 
recreation. After reading, expounding, and singing, 
one of the pupils went to prayer ; immediately after 
prayer we took breakfast; then the first class went 
into the lecture, and the rest afterwards in their 
turns. Each lecture began with an examination, by 
which Mr. Jennings could easily judge of our care or 
negligence in studying the former. Lecturing gener- 
ally employed Mr. Jennings the greater part of the 
forenoon. Immediately after lecture we went in to 
our studies. At twelve we dined ; at two we gener- 
ally retired to our closets again, but were not con- 
fined to that hour, for the times of private study were 
left to our own choice. At seven we were called to 
supper, immediately after which one of the classes 
had a lecture. At half past eight we were called to 
reading, exposition, and singing; afterwards Mr. Jen- 
nings himself prayed in the family. Accounts of pri- 
vate studies, cases, and conversation employed us till 

5* 



106 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

about ten, when we generally retired to bed. Thurs- 
day morning was always vacant. 77 

Here would seem to be a fitting place to introduce 
an account of the entrance of Doddridge upon the 
work of a theological tutor, adopting as his model 
the excellent and laborious course of his own theo- 
logical instructor, which is so well portrayed in the 
preceding letter to Mr. Saunders ; but it is a matter of 
much interest to inquire into the habits which he had 
already formed as a preacher. c There is the fullest 
evidence that he was a thoroughly honest and sincere 
man. He earnestly sought to avoid the reproach, 
"Physician, heal thyself. 77 What he preached to 
others he preached as solemnly to himself, and thus 
pursued the best course for attaining great power 
and influence over the minds of his hearers, and thus 
also did he preeminently qualify himself for the la- 
borious and useful post of a theological instructor. 
He became a model preacher and pastor. 

Under date of July 23, 1727, his papers contain 
this interesting record of private reflections: 

"I this day preached concerning Christ as the 
physician of souls, from Jer. 8 : 22 ; and having, among 
other particulars, addressed to those sincere Chris- 
tians who, through the neglect of a gospel remedy, 
are in a bad state of spiritual health, it is evident to 
me, upon a serious review, that I am of that number. 
Therefore, with humble shame and sorrow for my 
former indifference and folly, I would now sincerely 
attempt a reformation. To this purpose I would re- 
solve, 



HIS THEOLOGICAL STUDIES. 107 

"1. That I will carefully examine into my own 
soul, that I may know its constitution, and its partic- 
ular weakness and distempers. 

" 2. I would apply to Christ, as my Physician, to 
heal these diseases, and restore me to greater vigor 
in the service of God. 

" 3. I would remember that he heals by the Spirit ; 
and would therefore pray for his influences to produce 
in me greater devotion, humility, diligence, gravity, 
purity, and steadiness of resolution. 

" 4. I would wait on him in the study of the Scrip- 
tures, in prayer, and the Lord's supper. 'Lord, if 
thou wilt, thou canst make me clean/ Thou hast 
given me a degree of bodily health and vigor far 
superior to what, from the nature of my constitution, 
I had reason to expect; yet I here record it before 
thee, that I desire spiritual health abundantly more. 

"I would also consider my concern in this subject 
as a minister. God has provided a remedy. He has 
appointed me to proclaim, and in some measure, to 
apply it. Yet many are not recovered; and why? 
I can appeal to thee that I have faithfully warned 
them. I have endeavored to speak the most impor- 
tant truths with all possible plainness and serious- 
ness ; but I fear, 1. 1 have not followed them sufficient- 
ly with domestic and personal exhortations. 2. I 
have not been sufficiently careful to pray for the suc- 
cess of my ministerial labors. It has been rather an 
incidental thing than matter of solemn request. 3. I 
have lived so as to forfeit those influences of the Spirit, 
by which they might have been rendered more effec- 
tual. I resolve, therefore, for the time to come, to be 



108 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

more close in applying to them in their own houses, 
to pray for them more frequently, to set a greater 
value on the cooperating Spirit, and take care to 
avoid every thing which may provoke Him to with- 
draw himself from my ministrations. Such caution 
may I always maintain; and Oh, may the health of 
my people be recovered. 7 ' 

"Nov. 12, 1727. I preached this day from these 
words, ' I know you, that you have not the love of 
God in you.' I endeavored to fix on unconverted sin- 
ners the charge of not loving God, and described at 
large the character of the Christian, in several ex- 
pressions of that assertion. My own heart convicted 
me of being deficient in many of them. I humbled 
myself deeply before God ; and do now, in the divine 
strength, renew my resolutions as to the following 
particulars : 

" 1. I will endeavor to think of God more frequent- 
ly than I have done, and to make the thoughts of him 
familiar to my mind in seasons of leisure and solitude. 

" 2. I will labor after communion with him, espec- 
ially in every devotion through this week. For this 
purpose I would recollect my thoughts before I be- 
gin, watch over my heart in the duty, and consider 
afterwards how I have succeeded. 

" 3. I will pray for conformity to God, and en- 
deavor to imitate him in wisdom, justice, truth, faith- 
fulness, and goodness. 

"4. I will rejoice in God's government of the 
world, and regard his interposition in all my per- 
sonal concerns. 



HIS THEOLOGICAL STUDIES. 109 

"5. I will pray for zeal in my Master's interest, 
and will make the advancement of his glory the great 
end of every action of life. 

"6.1 will cultivate a peculiar affection to Chris- 
tians as such. 

" 7. I will study the divine will, and endeavor to 
practise every duty. 

" 8. I will be diligently on my guard against every 
thing which may forfeit the favor of God and provoke 
his displeasure. 

" I resolve particularly to make these things my 
care the ensuing week, and hope I shall find the bene- 
fit of it, and perceive at the close that my evidences 
of the sincerity of my love to God are more stable 
and flourishing than they at present are." 

The method of faithful dealing with his own soul, 
in respect to the discharge of personal and official 
responsibilities, as developed in the extracts just 
furnished, prepares us to anticipate a corresponding 
fidelity in promoting the spiritual interests of all 
who came within the sphere of his appropriate labors. 
Accordingly, we learn that he was assiduous in avail- 
ing himself of every opportunity of doing good, and 
that he sought such opportunities. The children and 
servants of the family with whom he boarded were 
objects of special religious care. On the Sabbath he 
generally conversed with them in private upon their 
spiritual interests and obligations. 

One fact relating to Doddridge should be told as 
a hint to not a few Christian ministers of the present 
time. He made it a standing rule never to refuse to 



110 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

preach, however comparatively unprepared, whenever 
he was solicited to do so, believing that every such 
invitation was a call from his great Master to attempt 
to do good. He used to say, that if on any occa- 
sion he was asked to preach merely by way of compli- 
ment, he always did so, thus practically teaching his 
friends not to ask for his services when they did not 
really desire them. 

He was conscientious and exact in making the 
most of time, and anxious to avoid the waste of it in 
frivolous pursuits or in indolence. Through the year 
it was his practice to rise at five o'clock, and to this 
valuable habit he ascribed a good part of the pro- 
ficiency which he made in learning and in his perform- 
ances as an author. See Family Expositor : note on 
Eom. 13 : 13. He is often found expressing deep sor- 
row and humiliation before God in reviewing those 
hours in which he may have made some unnecessary 
visits, or visits in which he had neglected to intro- 
duce conversation of a profitable character ; and also 
in reviewing the hours which he had not turned to as 
good account as seemed desirable and proper. 

To guard against a waste of time in future, he 
formed at the beginning of every year a well-digested 
plan of reading and of business, of subjects upon which 
he would prepare discourses, and of methods of doing 
good among his people. At the end of every month 
he compared his conduct and attainments with the 
plan laid down, noted deficiencies, examined causes 
of failure, and roused himself to new resolution to 
accomplish what he had purposed. On New-year's 
day, and on his own birthday, he instituted a more 



HIS THEOLOGICAL STUDIES. Ill 

careful and solemn review of the manner in which the 
intervals of his time had been occupied, exciting him 
to humiliation, on the one hand, over any failures 
which he might thus discover, and to gratitude on the 
other, so far as he had accomplished any part of his 
extended scheme of useful labor and acquisition. 
These two days of the year he was accustomed to 
appropriate entirely to careful self-examination and 
closet devotion. He reviewed the record which he 
regularly kept of any particular favors of divine 
Providence which he had received, of the sins and 
infirmities in which he had indulged, and of the prom- 
inent events in his personal history and experience. 
This led to a renewal of his solemn covenant and 
resolution to endeavor in future to conduct himself 
more agreeably to the views of duty now entertained. 

Before he set out on a visit among his friends, or 
undertook a journey, it was his custom to inquire of 
himself respecting the opportunities that might thus 
be offered him of doing good, so as to prepare himself 
to use them; also respecting the temptations which 
he might encounter to his disadvantage, so as to arm 
himself to meet them. On his return home he exam- 
ined himself upon the behavior which he had pursued, 
to ascertain wherein he had erred, and wherein he 
had conformed to what was right — following these 
investigations with appropriate acts of humiliation 
and of gratitude before God. 

In 1729 Mr. Doddridge began to preach at Mar- 
ket - Harborough and Kibworth alternately, having 
resided for some years at the former place. His tal- 
ents and acceptableness as a preacher became known 



112 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

to several congregations much larger than those by 
whom his services as a pastor were importunately 
solicited. It is highly interesting to read those por- 
tions of his correspondence which relate to invitations 
which he received, as we have already stated, from 
London, from Coventry, from Nottingham, and else 
where, and to discover the enlightened and conscien- 
tious regard to his highest usefulness which is therein 
displayed. The application made subsequently by an 
important congregation in Northampton, and some of 
his correspondence relating to it, will be considered 
hereafter, when we shall have laid before the reader 
some of the circumstances connected with his entrance 
upon the arduous duties of a theological tutor, which 
occurred about the same period. 



HIS THEOLOGICAL ACADEMY. 113 



CHAPTER III. 

INSTITUTION OF DODDRIDGE'S THEOLOGICAL 
ACADEMY— EARLY PASTORATE AT NORTH- 
AMPTON. 

The death of the Rev. John Jennings, who was 
greatly and deservedly lamented, created an impor- 
tant vacancy in the department of theological instruc- 
tion among the Independents of England ; and great 
difficulty was apprehended in filling it to the satisfac- 
tion both of the. more sternly Calvinistic and of the 
other portions of that body. Previous to his decease, 
Mr. Jennings had expressed to Doddridge, his most 
esteemed pupil, a strong desire that he would review 
the compendium of instruction pursued by him, with 
a view to render it more complete, and to supply it, 
from his reading and reflections, with more varied 
illustrations. The occasion of making this suggestion 
was the hope, that in the event of his own decease 
the appointment to his place might be secured for 
Doddridge, whom to a few individuals he had repre- 
sented as better qualified than any other of his pupils 
to carry out effectively and satisfactorily the scheme 
which had been introduced and pursued in his acad- 
emy. Doddridge was not apprized, however, of this 
design of Mr. Jennings, until communicated to him 
after the decease of his venerated instructor. Yet 
for years he had been diligently acting upon the plan 
suggested, and the above letter to Mr. Saunders shows 



114 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

even in its abridged form an intimate acquaintance 
with the course of instruction through which he had 
passed, in preparing to preach. This letter was taken 
to London by the Rev. Mr. Some, and submitted to 
the Rev. Dr. Isaac Watts, partly with a view to ascer- 
tain his opinion of the scheme, and to secure his nom- 
ination of a successor to Mr. Jennings. 

Upon returning the letter to Mr. Some, Dr. Watts 
accompanied it with the following observations : 

" 1. How wonderful and extraordinary a man was 
the late Mr. John Jennings ! The little acquaintance 
I had with him made me esteem and love him; but 
my love and esteem were vastly too low for so elevat- 
ed a character. The world and the church know not 
the mournful vacancy which they sustain by his death. 

" 2. How necessary it is that two persons at least 
should be engaged to fill up all the parts of that office 
which the ingenious writer of this letter has made to 
devolve upon one. The diversity of genius, the vari- 
ety of studies, the several intellectual, moral, and 
pious accomplishments, the constant daily and hourly 
labors necessary to fulfil such a post, can hardly be 
expected from any one person living. 

" 3. Yet if there be one person capable of such a 
post, perhaps it is the man who has so admirably de- 
scribed this scheme of education ; and as he seems to 
have surveyed and engrossed the whole comprehen- 
sive view and design, together with its constant diffi- 
culties and accidental embarrassments, and yet sup- 
posed it to be practicable, I am sure I can never think 
of any person more likely to execute it than himself; 
although if an older person joined with him, for the 



HIS THEOLOGICAL ACADEMY. 115 

reputation of the matter at least, it would be well. 
The beauties and congruities of the scheme are so 
many and various, that if I should have made any 
remarks upon them — as I have done, en passant, upon 
some little improvables — I must have filled a quire 
instead of a sheet of paper." 

Having received unsolicited so favorable a tes- 
timony from Dr. Watts in favor of Doddridge, Mr. 
Some easily secured a public acknowledgment from 
all the neighboring ministers, that his young friend 
was highly qualified to undertake the arduous post 
which now was to be occupied. Thereupon, at a gen- 
eral meeting of non-conformist ministers held at Tut- 
terworth, April 10, 1729, to pray for a revival of re- 
ligion, Mr. Some, having delivered an earnest public 
discourse upon the means best adapted to promote 
that object, suggested the expediency of establishing a 
theological academy at Harborough, and of placing it 
under the charge of Mr. Doddridge. The suggestion 
was unanimously adopted; all due encouragement 
and assistance was promised; and during the summer 
the enterprise was commenced, on a moderate scale, 
only a few being received of the pupils that were 
offered. 

While the question of entering upon it was yet in 
agitation, Doddridge wrote of the matter in the fol- 
lowing just terms : 

"I do most humbly refer this great concern to 
God, and am sincerely willing the scheme should be 
disappointed if it be not consistent with the greater 
purposes of his glory, yea, will not be remarkably 
subservient to them. I depend on him for direction 



116 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

in this affair, and assistance and success if I under- 
take it. While I am waiting his determination, I 
would apply more diligently to my proper business, 
and act more steadily by the rules I have laid down 
for my conduct. May He grant that in all my schemes 
relating to public service, I may, as much as possible, 
divest myself of all regard to my own ease and repu- 
tation, and set myself seriously to consider what I can 
do for the honor of the Redeemer and the good of the 
world." 

As he was entering upon the undertaking, his re- 
flections were exceedingly appropriate and impressive : 

" Providence is opening a prospect of much great- 
er usefulness than before, though attended with vast 
labor and difficulty. In divine strength I go forth to 
the work, and resolve upon the most careful and vig- 
orous discharge of all the duties incumbent on me, to 
labor for the instruction and watch for the souls of 
my pupils. I intend to have some discourse with 
them on the Lord's-day evenings on subjects of inward 
religion. I will endeavor to give a serious turn to 
our conversation at other times, and always bear them 
on my heart before God with great tenderness and 
affection. I will labor to keep such an inspection 
over them as may be necessary to discover their 
capacities, tempers, and failings, that I may behave 
in a suitable manner to them. In all, I will main- 
tain a humble dependence on Divine influences, to 
lead me in the path of duty and prudence, and enable 
me to behave in a way answerable to the character 
in which I appear, and those agreeable expectations 
which many of my friends have entertained of me. 



HIS THEOLOGICAL ACADEMY. 117 

" Considering the work before me, I would set 
myself with peculiar diligence to maintain and in- 
crease the life of religion in my own soul, and a con- 
stant sense of the Divine presence and love ; for I find, 
when this is maintained, nothing gives me any con- 
siderable disquiet, and I have vigor and resolution of 
spirit to carry me through my labors. When I am 
conscious of the want of this, and any inconsistency 
of behavior towards the divine Being, it throws a 
damp on my vigor and resolution; yea, on all the 
other pleasures of life. In order to maintain this 
habitual, delightful sense of God, I would frequently 
renew my dedication to Him, in that covenant on 
which all my hopes depend, and my resolutions for 
universal, zealous obedience. I will study redeeming 
love more, and habitually resign myself and all my 
concerns to the divine disposal. I am going to ex- 
press and seal these resolutions at the Lord's table; 
and may this be the happy period from which shall 
commence better days of religion and usefulness than 
I have ever yet known. 77 

Having entered upon the work with these com- 
prehensive views and earnest dependence on God, he 
diligently reviewed his course of academical studies, 
he corresponded with Dr. Watts and other celebrated 
divines upon the subject, and gathered works on edu- 
cation which furnished him with instructive hints, 
which he reduced to writing; indeed, he employed 
every judicious method of improving his means of 
usefulness in this new direction of his active mind and 
devout heart. 

It was about this time that a proposition was 



118 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

made to Mr. Doddridge to go to Northampton and 
take charge of the congregation meeting on Castle 
Hill. Of this, and of his settlement at Northampton, 
we here give a short account. 

The dissenting congregation worshipping at Castle 
Hill in Northampton, being destitute of a pastor, Mr. 
Doddridge, with other neighboring ministers, occa- 
sionally supplied them ; and so acceptable did his ser- 
vices prove, that the congregation were determined 
upon endeavoring to secure his removal from Har- 
borough to Northampton. This was strongly opposed 
by his earnest friend the Rev. Mr. Some, who had 
been most active in locating the theological academy 
at Harborough, where he himself resided, and rejoiced 
in the society of Doddridge. He went to Northamp- 
ton to endeavor to persuade the congregation that it 
was not right for them to press their application for 
Doddridge's pastoral services; but, during his visit, 
was so impressed with the earnest zeal of the people 
to secure this advantage, that he changed his views 
and acquiesced in the design. The following corre- 
spondence will set this matter in the best light, illus- 
trating the careful and conscientious manner in which 
the young candidate for the place conducted his de- 
liberations and decisions. 

From the Rev. David Some. 

" October, 1729. 

" I doubt not that you are impatient to know the 

result of my negotiations at Northampton. I preached 

from these words : ' Have salt in yourselves, and have 

peace one with another/ Mark 9 : 50. I managed 






HIS THEOLOGICAL ACADEMY. 119 

the argument in the best way I could, with a view to 
present circumstances. After the sermon we had a 
full vestry, when I opened the debate with a frank 
acknowledgment of the warmth of my own temper, 
and begged that we might there consider one another 
as only provoked unto love and to good works. I 
represented the former scheme of the academy, and 
the engagements you were under, in the strongest 
light. Upon the whole, the hearts of the people are 
moved altogether as the trees of a wood when bent 
by the wind ; and they are under such strong impres- 
sions about your coming to them, that it is impossible 
for a man to converse with them without feeling 
something for them. The mentioning of your name 
diffuses life and spirit through the whole body, and 
nothing can be heard but ■ Mr. Doddridge/ 

"I find myself in the utmost perplexity, and know 
not what to say or do. I believe you will hear of 
them again in a little time. I apprehend that you 
will wonder at what I write, but I think I am like 
Saul among the prophets, and that the same spirit 
which is in the people begins to seize me also. What 
shall I say ? Is this a call from God to break former 
measures? or is it a divine rebuke upon you for too 
unguarded a way of talking ? The matter requires 
the closest consideration." 

To the Rey. Dr. Wright. 

" November 3, 1729. 

" The affair of Northampton is now come to such 

a crisis that I think it highly proper to lay it before 

you, and beg the favor of your advice upon it. The 

congregation there, which is very numerous, has given 



120 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

me a unanimous invitation to come to settle among 
them ; and their conduct has been marked with every 
expression of affection that can be imagined, and the 
subject has been urged again and again, after repeat- 
ed denials, with an importunity which nothing could 
have supported but an apprehension that it was the 
will of God that they should pursue this attempt to 
the utmost. 

" They willingly consent to my bringing my little 
academy with me, and engage to leave me my morn- 
ings and evenings to be employed in studying and in 
lecturing, contenting themselves with so much visiting 
as I can find time for in the afternoons. They make 
the most generous proposal to facilitate the circum- 
stances of my removal, and cheerfully offer to indem- 
nify Mrs. Jennings for any expense she may have been 
at, in providing for the accommodation of my pupils. 
They also urge that if I do not come they shall be 
utterly at a loss for a minister, and have no hope of 
joining so unanimously in any other person. 

"On the other hand, there are several objections 
against accepting this call, which I cannot by any 
means get over, and which I desire you to take into 
most serious consideration, and I believe you will 
think them of considerable weight. I am not certain 
that I could conform myself so far to the taste of the 
people, which is very different from what I have been 
accustomed to, as to please them long either in con- 
versation or in the pulpit. Again, if there be any 
thing in my preaching which is above the lowest taste 
and genius, it will certainly be lost to nine parts out 
of ten of that auditory. But the grand objection, and 



HIS THEOLOGICAL ACADEMY. 121 

that which weighs with me more than any other, is 
what relates to the academy. I have been several 
years preparing for the business of a tutor, and my 
full acquaintance with Mr. Jennings' scheme seems to 
give me some advantages for pursuing it beyond some 
others who are much my superiors both in genius and 
in learning. I am now entered on a preparatory 
course with all the agreeable circumstances I could 
wish. Should I remove with my pupils to Northamp- 
ton, the advantages peculiar to Harborough must not 
only be given up, but most of them must be exchanged 
for contrary circumstances. 

" On the whole, sir, I do not ask you whether you 
would advise me to accept of Northampton and to lay 
down the business of a tutor ; for the great pleasure I 
find in it, and my hope of much usefulness in that 
character, and my repeated engagements to devote 
myself to its duties, both in the pulpit and to those 
friends who have sent me their sons, prevent my 
entertaining a thought of that nature : the only ques" 
tion is, whether under present circumstances you 
would advise me to undertake both, or to send an 
absolute refusal to Northampton. 

" I beg that you would communicate this letter to 
Dr. Calamy, and any other friend whom you may 
think it proper to consult. I desire the favor of a 
speedy answer, and a continued remembrance in your 
prayers." 

The result of Mr. Doddridge's correspondence and 
reflections upon this important question, will be seen 
in the following excellent letter. 

Doddridge. 6 



122 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

To the Congregation at Northampton. 

"December 6, 1729. 

" My deae Friends — After a serious and impartial 
consideration of your case, and repeated addresses to 
the great Father of light for his guidance and direc- 
tion, I can at length assure you that I am determined, 
by his permission, to accept of your kind invitation, 
and undertake the pastoral care of you, with the most 
ardent feelings of sincere gratitude and affection. 

" You will easily apprehend that I could not form 
this resolution without a great deal of anguish, both 
with regard to those friends whom I am called upon to 
resign, and in reference to that great and difficult work 
which lies before me, in the care of your large con- 
gregation and my academy. But I hope that I have 
sincerely devoted my soul to God and my Redeemer ; 
and therefore I would humbly yield myself up to what, 
in present circumstances, I apprehend to be his will. 
I take this important step with fear and trembling, 
yet with a humble confidence in Him, and with the 
hope that, in the midst of these great difficulties, he 
will not leave me entirely destitute of that presence 
which I desire to prefer to every thing which life can 
bestow. 

" As for you, my brethren, let me entreat you, 
that if there be any consolation in Christ, if any com- 
fort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bow- 
els of mercy, fulfil ye my joy. Let me beseech you to 
remember that, by accepting your call, I have entrust- 
ed the happiness of my life into your hands. Prepare 
yourselves, therefore, to cover my many infirmities 
with the mantle of your love, and continue to treat 



HIS THEOLOGICAL ACADEMY. 123 

me with the same kindness and gentleness as those 
dear and excellent friends have done whom I am now 
about to leave, in compassion to your souls ; for God 
knows that no temporal advantage you could have 
offered would have engaged me to relinquish them. 

" May my heavenly Father comfort my heart in 
what is now determined, by giving an abundant suc- 
cess to my ministrations among you, so that a multi- 
tude of souls may have reason to praise him on that 
account ; and let me beg that you will bear me daily 
on your hearts before his throne in prayer, and seek 
for me that extraordinary assistance, without which I 
must infallibly sink under the great work I have thus 
undertaken. 

" I shall continue to recommend you, my dearly 
beloved, to the grace of Almighty God, the great 
Shepherd of his sheep, with that affection which now 
so peculiarly becomes your most devoted friend and 
servant in the bonds of our common Lord, 

"PHILIP DODDRIDGE." 

Only a few clays before this letter was written, he 
had concluded to remain at Harborough, and yet felt 
it a duty " to lay down his good friends at North- 
ampton as gently as he could." Accordingly, he went 
over there and preached from the appropriate words, 
"And when he would not be persuaded, we ceased, say- 
ing, The will of the Lord be done." Acts 21 : 14. By a 
providential circumstance he was detained there until 
the following Wednesday, during the whole of which 
interval, he says, "I was besieged by the friendly 
importunities of the congregation ; and when, before 
I went away, the young people came to me in a body, 



124 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

and earnestly entreated me to come among them, 
promising to submit to all such methods of instruction 
as I should think proper, I found my heart so much 
melted with their affectionate fervor, that I was no 
longer master of myself, and agreed to take the affair 
into consideration again. Upon the whole I was per- 
suaded in my conscience that it was my duty to accept 
their invitation ; and God is my witness, that when I 
did accept it, which was on the Saturday night after- 
wards, it was with the utmost reluctance. I acted, 
indeed, without the advice of almost any of my friends, 
and directly contrary to that of some for whom I had 
a very high regard ; but I thought myself obliged in 
conscience to act according to my own views, as it is 
certain I must answer for myself another day." 

At the time Mr. Doddridge was invited to North- 
ampton, that church was partly Presbyterian, and 
partly Congregational. As the female members had 
no vote in the choice of a pastor, tradition has pre- 
served the fact,' that such was their desire to obtain 
his services, that before the brethren met to consider 
the matter, they held a solemn meeting for prayer, 
and sent two venerable ladies to the brethren to ex- 
press their earnest and unanimous desire that a call 
should be sent to him. It is said that this circum- 
stance solemnly impressed the minds of the brethren, 
and afterwards had considerable influence on the de- 
cision of the pastor elect. 

The diary of Doddridge says, "I began house- 
keeping about the 13th of January, and took posses- 



PASTORATE AT NORTHAMPTON. 125 

sion of that character in which I hope to spend most 
of the remaining studious hours of my life." 

On this occasion he called together several of his 
friends to spend an evening in prayer for the presence 
and blessing of God in his new abode : he expounded 
to them Psalm 101 ; and made known his solemn pur- 
poses and resolutions respecting the government of 
his family. 

He entered deeply into an examination of his own 
heart, and discovering that practical religion had 
therein declined, in consequence of the interruptions 
and anxieties attendant upon leaving Harborough, 
and preparing for a new scene of action, he addressed 
himself to the recovery of his spiritual strength and 
devotion. Among other methods adopted for this 
purpose, he set apart a day for fasting, humiliation, 
and prayer, to animate his own soul, and engage the 
Divine blessing on his family, studies, and labors. On 
such days of special devotion he proposed to himself 
the following course of action : 

" The Saturday immediately preceding the Lord's 
day on which the Lord's supper is to be administered, 
I propose to spend as a day of extraordinary devotion. 
I will endeavor to have all my business dispatched, 
and whatever is necessary to my preparation for such 
a day, on Friday night ; particularly I will look over 
my diary, and other memorandums, which may be of 
use to me in the fast itself. I will rise early; en- 
deavor, while rising, to fix on my mind a sense of 
God and my own unworthiness, and will then solemn- 
ly address myself to God for his assistance in all the 
particular services of the day, of which I will form a 



126 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

more particular plan than this. I will then read, and 
afterwards expound in the family some portion of 
Scripture peculiarly suitable to such an occasion, and 
will make a collection of such lessons. 

" After family worship, I will retire and pray over 
the portion of Scripture I have been explaining. I 
will then set myself to revive the memory of my past 
conduct, especially since the last season of this kind. 
I will put such questions as these to myself: 'What 
care have I taken in the exercises of devotion ? What 
regard have I maintained to God in the intervals of 
it ? What diligence have I used in regarding provi- 
dence, and redeeming time ? What command have I 
exercised over my appetites and passions ? What 
concern have I had to discharge relative duties? 
How have I relished the peculiar doctrines of the 
gospel ? And upon the whole, how am I advancing 
in my journey to a better world V I will then record 
my sins with their peculiar aggravations, that I may 
humble myself before God for them; and my mercies, 
with the circumstances that set them off, that I may 
return fervent thanks for them. Having made a cat- 
alogue of hints on both these subjects, I will spend 
some time in meditation upon them, and having read 
some psalms or hymns which speak the language of 
godly sorrow, I will go into the presence of God, par- 
ticularly confessing my sins and the demerit of them, 
solemnly renouncing them, and renewing my covenant 
against them. I will then consider what methods are 
proper to be taken, that I may avoid them in future. 

"A devotional lecture to my pupils will be an 
important part of the work of this day. I will, after 



PASTORATE AT NORTHAMPTON. 127 

that, spend some time in prayer for them, my family, 
and people. The remainder of my work shall be 
praise, with which I think I ought to conclude even 
days of humiliation ; though sometimes a larger or a 
smaller space of time shall be allotted to this work, 
as peculiar circumstances require. After a little 
refreshment, I will converse with some of my pupils 
privately about inward religion, which I may do with 
some peculiar advantages, after having been lecturing 
them on such a subject, and so particularly praying 
for them. I would spend the evening in grave con- 
versation with some pious friends with whom I can 
use great freedom as to the state of their souls ; and 
at night review the whole, and conclude the day with 
some religious exercises suited to the work in which 
I have been engaged, and the frame of my own soul, 
and will keep an account of what passeth at these 
seasons. My God, assist me in this important duty. 
Make it so comfortable and useful to me, that I may 
have reason to praise thee that my thoughts were 
directed and my resolutions determined to it." 

In the review of all the circumstances attendant 
on this important removal, we are struck with Dod- 
dridge's firm adherence to what he judged to be the 
path of duty. With this step the lady who for many 
years had bestowed upon him the fostering care of 
parental tenderness was much dissatisfied, and her 
daughter, in whom, with the confiding security of mu- 
tual affection, his future hopes of domestic happiness 
had fondly centred, united with her mother in oppo- 
sition to it. Some of his endeared clerical friends 



128 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

also, he says, "blamed me exceedingly; so that I 
never spent any days in my life in such deep, bitter, 
uninterrupted anguish, as those which preceded my 
removal from Harborough." 

After his settlement, and previous to his ordina- 
tion, with a view to prepare himself for the arduous 
pastoral work which he had undertaken, he studied 
the best treatises relating to the qualifications and 
duties of pastors, such as " Chrysostom on the Priest- 
hood," "Bowies' Pastor Evangelicus," "Burnet on 
the Pastoral Care/ 7 and " Baxter's Reformed Pastor." 
He consulted the memoirs of distinguished ministers, 
and was particularly profited by that of Philip Henry. 
From these books he carefully selected and recorded, 
and often reviewed, the most important counsels, re- 
flections, and motives of action which he found. He 
also collected various maxims of prudence and discre- 
tion, which, if acted upon, were adapted to promote a 
minister's reputation and usefulness. 

About two months after commencing his labors at 
Northampton, they were arrested by a severe and 
dangerous illness of several weeks. From this ill- 
ness he had but partially recovered when the day 
arrived that had been fixed for his ordination, the 
proceedings of which are preserved in the following 
account from his own pen : 

" Northampton, March 19, 1730. 

" The afflicting hand of God upon me hindered me 
from making that preparation for the solemnities of 
this day, which I could otherwise have desired. 
However, I hope it hath long been my sincere desire 
to dedicate myself to him in the work of the minis- 



PASTORATE AT NORTHAMPTON. 129 

try ; and that the views with which I determined to 
undertake the office, and which I this day solemnly 
professed, have long since been seriously impressed 
on my heart. 

" The work of the day was fulfilled in a very honor- 
able and agreeable manner. Mr. Goodrich of Oun- 
dle commenced the service by prayer and reading 
the Scriptures. Mr. Dawson of Hinckley continued 
those exercises; and then Mr. Watson of Leicester 
preached a suitable sermon froml Tim. 3 -1, ' This is a 
true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he 
desireth a good work. 1 After the sermon, Mr. Norris 
of Welford read the Call of the Church, of which I de- 
clared my acceptance : he then received my confession 
of faith and ordination vows, and proceeded to set 
me apart by prayer : Mr. Clarke of St. Albans gave 
the charge to me, and Mr. Saunders of Kettering the 
exhortation to the people ; then Mr. Mattock of Dav- 
entry concluded the solemnity with prayer. 

" I cannot but admire the goodness of God in thus 
accepting me in the office of a minister, while I do 
not deserve to be owned by him as one of the mean- 
est of his servants. I firmly determine, in the strength 
of divine grace, that I will be faithful to God and the 
souls committed to my charge, and thus perform what 
I have so solemnly sworn. 

" The severe indisposition under which I labor gives 
me some apprehension that this settlement may be 
very short; but, through mercy, I am not anxious 
about it, for I have a cheerful hope that the God to 
whom I have this day devoted my services, with more 
solemnity than ever, will graciously accept them, either 



130 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

in this world or in a better, and I am not solicitous 
where or how. If I know any thing of my heart, I 
trust I may adopt the words of the apostle, that it is 
* my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing 
I shall be ashamed, but that Christ shall be magni- 
fied in my body, whether it be by life or by death;' 
that * to me to live is Christ/ and to die would be 
an unspeakable gain. 

"May this day never be forgotten by me, nor the 
dear people committed to my charge, whom I would 
humbly recommend to the care of the great Shep- 
herd." 

Here may be inserted the following letter, as it 
serves to illustrate some of the qualifications which 
Mr. Doddridge possessed, in so eminent a degree, for 
the pastoral office. It shows that he spared no pains 
in the endeavor to do good. 

To Miss King, 
[ Who was preparing for a voyage to India.] 

" Northampton, Feb. 14, 1730. 
" Many of our foreign governors live in a kind of 
princely magnificence, so that you will really need 
almost as much wisdom as if you were going to court. 
You will at least hear a great deal of flattery, the 
shame of our sex. and too often the ruin of your own ; 
but remember that the serpents which conceal the 
sharpest and most fatal stings, sometimes lurk beneath 
the sweetest flowers ; and that the most designing en- 
emy may accost you with the softest air, and the most 
smiling countenance. On the other hand, madam, it 
is very uncertain what advantages of a religious na- 



PASTORATE AT NORTHAMPTON. 131 

ture you may enjoy to counterbalance these ensnaring 
circumstances. Yet I think I may venture to say, 
that whithersoever you go, were it even in your own 
country, and much more in a foreign land, it is a 
thousand to one but that you exchange for the worse 
when you quit the ministry of Mr. Jennings, with 
whose excellent character I am well acquainted. 

" When I consider these things I cannot but think 
that, humanly speaking, there is reason to fear that 
the impressions of a religious education will wear 
off your mind, and the vain allurements of an ensnar- 
ing world possess themselves of your heart, till by 
insensible degrees your soul may be endangered. I 
say not these things to dissuade you from the voyage, 
were it in my power ; but I represent the case in all 
its dangerous circumstances, so far as I apprehend 
them, that you may be awakened to a proper care in 
providing against them. And here it is evident that 
your only security is in the protection of that God who 
has the elements under his command, and who, by his 
secret but powerful influence on the mind, can preserve 
it in the midst of temptation and brighten it by trial. 

"My advice is, therefore, that before you begin this 
important and doubtful voyage, you repeatedly ex- 
amine into the state of your soul with regard to God 
and eternity. Let it be your immediate and diligent 
inquiry, whether you have resolutely and entirely 
devoted yourself to God, with a humble dependence 
on the merits of his Son, and the assistance of his 
Spirit, to form you to a holy temper, and animate 
you to a zealous discharge of the duties he requires. 
If you have not yet entered into this covenant, or 



132 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

are dubious whether you have done it, let it now be 
your immediate care to do it with the most serious 
consideration, as knowing it to be absolutely neces- 
sary for your security and happiness in the safest and 
most cheering circumstances of life, and how much 
more so in such as have been described. Permit me 
to advise you to confirm it in the most solemn manner 
at the table of the Lord. There commit your life and 
your hopes to his providential care. Open your heart 
to the influences of his grace, and publicly avow a 
determinate resolution that you will be the Lord's ; 
that you will be constantly and eternally His; and 
that in the strength of his Spirit, neither life nor 
death shall separate you from him. 

" When this is done, you will be armed against the 
uncertainties of life, and the prospect of death in 
whatever form it may appear. Your soul may be 
calm in the midst of the tempest, when thunders roll, 
and the waves are foaming and roaring around you ; 
when the hearts of the most experienced and coura- 
geous mariners are dismayed, you, with all the ten- 
derness of your age and sex, may feel a sweet tran- 
quillity, as the charge and favorite of Him who has 
universal nature under his control. Or should the 
dreadful moment of shipwreck come, while ungodly 
wretches are meeting the first death with unknown 
agony, as apprehending that it will transmit them to 
the terrors of the second, you may smile with holy 
transport; and when you see the rays of heavenly 
glory shooting through the gloomy passage, as Mr. 
Howe beautifully expresses it, ' embrace the friendly 
wave which will land you in heaven/ 



PxlSTORATE AT NORTHAMPTON. 133 

" On the other hand, should Providence, according 
to my affectionate and repeated prayers, conduct you 
in safety to your intended harbor, your early and sin- 
cere devotedness to God will secure you in the midst 
of temptation — not indeed in the strength of your own 
virtue, but in the watchful care of the good Shepherd, 
who tenderly carries the lambs of his flock in his 
bosom : every thing splendid and pleasing around 
you, instead of alienating your heart from God, may 
be a means of raising it to him. The advantages of 
your circumstances may be improved to the noblest 
purposes, and you may appear in that conspicuous sta- 
tion, as raised by Providence to display the charms 
of virtue, and to recommend religion to others ; as it 
cannot appear in a more amiable light, than when 
practised by the young who are surrounded with the 
allurements of greatness. 

" I hope that God will inspire you with a glorious 
ambition of being eminently honorable and useful in 
life. And for your assistance in this noble attempt, 
I will presume so far upon your .patience as to offer 
you some more particular advice, submitting it to 
your deliberate reflection, that you may judge how far 
it is necessary or important. 

" As God is the support of the whole world, so I 
believe all who are experimentally acquainted with 
religion, will readily allow that a proper and constant 
regard to God is their best support. I would there- 
fore, madam, exhort you to the most diligent care in 
maintaining such regards. Let no day pass without 
some humble and affectionate visits to the throne of 
grace, and rejoice to think that whithersoever you 



134 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

go, you are still in a province of that universal em- 
pire over which He presides ; and as He is your best 
friend, remember, I entreat you, that neither duty nor 
prudence will permit you to neglect him. Let secret 
prayer and reading the Scriptures always be attended 
to with great diligence ; and fix it as a maxim in your 
mind, that however other outward forms may be gone 
through, devotion is in effect neglected, if these duties 
are not seriously and heartily performed. 

"Thankfully improve all those public advantages 
which you may there enjoy for the good of your soul ; 
for I should be much concerned if you were to go 
abroad with a contempt for all religious opportu- 
nities which are not just such as you could wish. 
Though a form be probably less suited to your taste 
as well as to mine, than the prayers we have been 
accustomed to, yet the divine influence may make it 
very refreshing. I doubt not that many pious souls 
in the established church have daily converse with 
God in its offices, a thought in which I heartily re- 
joice. I hope Providence will so order it, that you 
may have the assistance of a clergyman who will not 
only be careful to speak the words of soberness, but 
will, throughout the whole of his ministrations and 
conversation, be animated by a deep and lively sense 
of religion, an ardent zeal for the honor of God, and 
a tender concern for the salvation of souls. But if it 
should happen otherwise, endeavor to make the best 
of what you hear, and carry a few good books with 
you, which may, in part, make up for the want of 
more suitable public assistance. You. may thus have 
an opportunity of hearing some of our preachers al- 



PASTORATE AT NORTHAMPTON. 135 

most every day, and may be secure of meeting with 
some of the most valuable of their discourses. I 
would on this occasion recommend to you ' Dr. Watts 7 
Sermons/ 'Hymns, Psalms, and Lyric Poems; 7 Dr. 
Evans 7 'Christian Temper, 7 and 'Sermons to Young 
People, 7 Stennett 7 s 'Reasonableness of Early Piety, 7 
and, I had almost said above all the rest, Dr. 
Wright 7 s 'Treatise on Regeneration, 7 and of 'The 
Deceitfulness of Sin. 7 I see not well how any of these 
can be spared, and I shall desire you to accept of the 
two last, bound together, as a small testimony of my 
sincere friendship. 

" Above all, I would earnestly entreat you to make 
the Scriptures very familiar to your mind. David 7 s 
Psalms, Solomon 7 s Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, and 
the New Testament, are the parts of Scripture which 
I would especially recommend ; and I would entreat 
you to read them, not in a hasty and cursory manner, 
but with deep reflection, and earnest prayer to God 
for the assistance of his Spirit. On such a perusal, I 
am confident that you will find a spirit, a beauty, 
and a glory in them, beyond what the generality of 
the world apprehend. This guide alone is incompar- 
ably preferable to all the books and the friends in the 
world without it. Follow it steadily and it will lead 
you to heaven. 

"As to your behavior to your fellow-creatures, the 
directions of Scripture will be highly serviceable. In 
this most important article, your great care, madam, 
must be to accommodate your own particular circum- 
stances to its general precepts, and you must beg that 
God would give you wisdom to do it. 



136 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

"You cannot but know that a young lady is ex- 
posed to a variety of temptations peculiar to her own 
age and sex, especially in the company of gentlemen 
whose professions and conditions in life may not in- 
cline them to the greatest sobriety of behavior ; and 
it will require great prudence on your part to man- 
age well here. Your principal difficulty will be to 
keep yourself free from those importunities which are 
on many accounts inconvenient. And here, madam, 
I would by no means advise you to put on an air 
of severity in the company of men, as if you were 
apprehensive of some criminal design in all they said 
or did. Such a behavior is so far from being orna- 
mental, that I will frankly confess it appears to me 
not only offensive, but ridiculous and supercilious too. 
Yet there is, if one knew how to describe it, a kind 
of reserve mixed up with the most cheerful freedom ; 
a chastened gayety which inspires a reverence even 
for the most gentle charmer ; and would make a man 
bhish at the secret consciousness of an irregular 
thought with regard to so excellent, I had almost 
said, so sacred a creature. 

"It would be an easy matter to insist more co- 
piously upon these hints, but my letter is grown al- 
ready to a very uncommon size ; and what is omitted, 
if I judge aright of your character, your own good 
sense will supply, under the direction of the word of 
God, and the influence of his Spirit. Only let me 
entreat you to reflect frequently upon your conduct, 
for I am confident that the generality of mankind who 
are undone for time and eternity, perish not so much 
for want of knowing what is right, as through that 



PASTORATE AT NORTHAMPTON. 13T 

failure of resolution in its pursuit, which is owing to 
a neglect of due reflection. 

"My hearty prayers shall be frequently repeated, 
that a watchful Providence may continually surround 
you and give the winds and the seas a charge con- 
cerning you, and that the influences of His grace may 
secure you from temptation, and make you a lovely 
example of all the virtues and graces of Christianity ; 
so that you may ultimately be restored to your native 
land in peace, with a rich increase both of temporal 
and spiritual blessings." 

INTRODUCTION INTO DOMESTIC LIFE. 

In the course of the summer Mr. Doddridge made 
an excursion into Worcestershire with a view to 
recreation, and there met a young lady, Miss Mercy 
Maris, who possessed varied attractions so well adapt- 
ed to his tastes and to his judgment, that he com- 
menced on his return home a correspondence which 
resulted in her acceptance of him as her future hus- 
band, and in their marriage on the 22d of December, 
1730, a day which Doddridge afterwards with fre- 
quency and great fondness referred to as the happiest 
of his life. "The lady," according to Mr. Hum- 
phrey's account, "was rather tall, and presented that 
free and flowing outline which painters love to copy. 
Her air and general carriage had the easy self-pos- 
session and confiding grace which inspire respect and 
bestow comfort. She dressed handsomely, but with- 
out assumption ; and if she was a little too critical in 
that particular, the sense of formality was lost in the 
vivacity of her conversation, to which black eyes, raven 



138 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

hair, and the ardent tint which so often mantles in 
the cheeks of a brunette, gave a peculiar zest." 

It is not unusual that letters passing between those 
who are looking forward to wedded life are of but lit- 
tle value except to themselves. An extract from one 
written by Doddridge to the lady of his choice, about 
seven weeks before their marriage, will not lessen 
either party in the esteem of the Christian reader : 

" I am but just now risen from the table of the 
Lord, and I am sitting down to write to you. Nor 
does my conscience accuse me for such a transition. 
It would rather reproach me if I had fixed my affec- 
tions upon a lady with whom I could not correspond 
in a strain agreeable to the solemnity of such an hour. 

" I have been remembering a dying Redeemer, and 
I have there been remembering you, who, I can truly 
say, hold the next place in my heart. May it ever be 
only the next. 

" I have been renewing the dedication of myself 
to God ; and have been referring all \he future events 
of my life to his care, and most particularly and 
expressly that dear concern with you, which is so 
highly important, and lies so near my heart. I per- 
suade myself I am more likely to succeed by submit- 
ting it to the all-wise and all-gracious disposal of our 
heavenly Father ; and I rejoice to think, that as you 
will make my own house and table more delightful to 
me, so you will add a new pleasure to the house and 
table of my God. While I am thus near him, it re- 
joices my soul to think that he is giving me a com- 
panion in life, who, instead of separating me from him, 
will lead me nearer to him." 



PASTORATE AT NORTHAMPTON. 139 

In this year, 1730, a species of villany began to 
exhibit itself which had heretofore been unknown in 
England. Letters were sent to many persons demand- 
ing money, on the threat of reducing their houses to 
ashes, in case of their demands not being complied 
with. The evil existed in Northampton, and Dod- 
dridge wrote to Miss Maris, in his last letter before 
marriage, " The incendiaries are come to Northamp- 
ton. Should God permit them, they might ruin me 
in an hour. But I commit myself to a watchful and 
almighty Providence." 

To the Rev. Isaac Watts, D. D. 

" April 5, 1731. 
" With what sincere reverence and affection I can 
address you, I hope, sir, I need not express at large ; 
for I cannot but think that whenever I have been so 
happy as to converse with you, my countenance must 
have discovered the inward pleasure which diffused 
itself over my mind on the occasion. I am deeply 
sensible of the favor you have done me, in joining 
with some other friends in recommending me as a 
tutor at your board. If 1 do not impose upon myself, 
my conscience witnesses for me in the sight of God, 
that the hope of usefulness, rather than the prospect 
of any secular advantage, has engaged me to under- 
take the work ; and I persuade myself, sir, that your 
prayers are sometimes ascending with mine in suppli- 
cation that the great Author of knowledge and grace 
may impart to me those talents and that piety which 
such an important station requires, and thus succeed 
my attempts for the edification of the church, and the 
glory of our common Lord. I hope indeed, if God 



140 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

should continue my life, to find in you a counsellor 
and a friend ; and I cannot but admire his goodness 
in honoring me with the friendship of such a person. 
I can truly say, that your name was in the number of 
those dearest to me long before I ever saw you ; yet 
since I have known you, I cannot but find a still more 
tender pleasure in the thought of your valuable and 
successful services for the advancement of practical 
Christianity. 

" An accident which happened here a few days 
ago, gave me a pleasure with regard to you, which is 
still so warm in my mind that I hope you will pardon 
my relating the circumstance. On Tuesday last I was 
preaching to a large assembly of plain country people 
at a village a few miles off, when, after a sermon from 
Hebrews 6 : 12, we satig one of your hymns, which, if 
I remember right, was the 140th of the second book. ;; 

Give me the wings of faith to rise 

Within the veil, and see 
The saints above, how great their joys, 

How bright their glories be. 

Once they were mourning here below, 
And wet their couch with tears ; 

They wrestled hard, as we do now, 
With sins, and doubts, and fears. 

I ask them whence their victory came ; 

They, with united breath, 
Ascribe their conquest to the Lamb, 

Their triumph to his death — etc. 

" In that part of the worship I had the satisfac- 
tion to observe tears in the eyes of several of the peo- 
ple ; and after the service was over, some of them told 



PASTORATE AT NORTHAMPTON. 141 

me that they were not able to sing, so deeply were 
their minds affected ; the clerk in particular said lie 
could hardly utter the words as he gave them out. 
They were most of them poor people, who work for 
their living, yet on the mention of your name, I found 
that they had read several of your books with great 
delight ; and that your psalms and hymns were almost 
their daily entertainment; and when one of the com- 
pany said, ' What if Dr. Watts should come down 
to Northampton f another replied, with remarkable 
warmth, ' The very sight of him would be as good as 
an ordinance to me.' 

" I mention the matter just as it occurred, and am 
persuaded that it is only a familiar and natural speci- 
men of what often takes place among a multitude of 
Christians who never saw your face ; nor do I by any 
means intend it as a compliment to a genius which 
has entertained, by the same compositions, the great- 
est and the meanest of mankind ; but rather to remind 
you, dear sir, how much you owe to Him who has 
honored you as the instrument of such extensive ser- 
vice. 

" Had Providence cast my lot near you, I should 
gratefully embrace frequent opportunities of improv- 
ing my understanding and warming my heart by your 
conversation, which would surely be greatly to my 
advantage as a tutor, a minister, and a Christian. 
As it is, I will not omit any opportunity that may fall 
in my way; and while I regret that I can enjoy no 
more of it here, I will comfort myself with the 
thought of that blessed state, when I hope to dwell 
with you for ever, and to join in sweeter and sublimer 



142 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

songs than even those which you have taught the 
church below. It is my desire and expectation that 
these and your other writings may be transmitted to 
the remotest generations, and that thousands yet un- 
born may have eternal reason to be thankful for 
them." 

The paternal character which was acquired October 
7, 1731, at the birth of his first child, soon developed 
itself very agreeably in letters to some of his friends, 
among which was the following. 

To Uncle Ebenezer Hawkins. 

" October 9, 1731. 

" It is a strange thing to me to find myself so fond 
of a little being who can do nothing but sleep and 
cry, and when it would be remarkably witty and 
entertaining, open its eyes and stare. What I shall 
do when it can run about and prattle, I know not; 
but in short, I begin to suspect that I shall prove no 
wiser than some certain nameless persons whom I 
have secretly been ready to laugh at upon that head. 

"I am a little angry that Upton does not lie 
within the neighborhood of Northampton ; but I beg 
you would in part alleviate that misfortune by fre- 
quent visits and letters." 

To Mrs. Doddridge. 

"London, July 23, 1735. 
" My dearest and best earthly joy — I always 
rejoice to see a letter from you; but that which I 
received this afternoon has thrown me into a sad fit 
of the vapors. I am inexpressibly concerned to hear 
you have been so much indisposed ; and as I have a 



PASTORATE AT NORTHAMPTON. 143 

thousand fears on account of your present circum- 
stances, so I am grieved to think that at best I am 
likely to undergo the sad discipline of living a month 
without your company below stairs ; and no place is 
more a wilderness to me than my own house when 
you are absent. 

" All my wisest and best friends approve my de- 
clining Salter's Hall. It would indeed have ruined 
my academy to accept it. Mr. Jennings prefers me 
to print the sermon about the 'One Thing Needful/ 
which Sir Henry Houghton desired to have; but I 
have not yet found time to transcribe a line of it, for 
I can write nothing but letters to you. 

"I called just now to see Mr. Calamy, who is 
finely recovered. There I saw Savage, the celebrated 
poet, who has lately been writing the Progress of a 
Divine, in imitation of Hogarth's Progress of a Rake: 
it is a desperate satire on the clergy." 

The domestic and social character of Dr. Doddridge 
will further appear in the reflections we find recorded 
in his diary upon the death of his eldest child. 

" Sunday, Oct. 3, 1736. On the 1st of October 
God was pleased by a most awful stroke to take away 
my eldest, dearest child, my lovely Betsey. She was 
formed to strike my affection in the most powerful 
manner : such a person, genius, and temper, as I ad- 
mired even beyond their real importance, so that 
indeed I doated upon her, and was for many months 
before her death in a great degree of bondage on her 
account. She was taken ill at Newport about the 
middle of June, and thence to the day of her death 



144 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

she was my continual thought and almost uninter- 
rupted care. God only knows with what earnestness 
and importunity I prostrated myself "before him to 
beg her life, which I would have been willing almost 
to have purchased with my own. When reduced to 
the lowest degree of languishment by consumption, I 
could not forbear looking in upon her almost every 
hour. I saw her with the strongest mixture of an- 
guish and delight. No chemist ever watched his cru- 
cible with greater care, when he expected the produc- 
tion of the philosopher's stone, than I watched her in 
all the various turns of her disease, which at last grew 
utterly hopeless; and then no language can express the 
agony into which it threw me. 

" One remarkable circumstance I cannot but recol- 
lect: in praying most affectionately, perhaps too ear- 
nestly for her life, these words came into my mind 
with great power, ' Speak no more to me of this matter. 1 
I was unwilling to take them, and went into the cham- 
ber to see my dear lamb, when instead of receiving 
me with her usual tenderness, she looked upon me 
with a stern air, and said with a very remarkable 
determination of voice, 'I have no more to say to 
you;' and I think from that time, though she lived 
at least ten days, she seldom looked upon me with 
pleasure, or cared to suffer me to come near her. But 
that I might feel all the bitterness of the affliction, 
Providence so ordered it that I came in when her 
sharpest agonies were upon her, and those words, * Oh 
dear, Oh dear, what shall I do V rung in my ears for 
succeeding hours and days. But God delivered her, 
and she without any violent pang in the article of her 



PASTORATE AT NORTHAMPTON. 145 

dissolution, quietly and sweetly fell asleep, as I hope, 
in Jesus, about ten at night, I being then at Maidwell. 
When I came home my mind was under a dark cloud 
relating to her eternal state ; but God was pleased 
graciously to remove it, and gave me comfortable 
hope, after having felt the most heart-rending sorrow. 
My dear wife bore the affliction in the most wonderful 
manner, and discovered more wisdom and piety and 
steadiness of temper in a few days than I had ever in 
six years an opportunity of observing before. Oh my 
soul, God has blasted thy gourd ; thy greatest earthly 
delight is gone : seek it in heaven, where I hope this 
dear babe is — where I am sure my Saviour is, and 
where I trust, through grace, notwithstanding all this 
irregularity of temper and of heart I shall shortly be. 

"I had preached in the bitterness of my heart 
from these words, ' Is it well with thy husband ? Is 
it well with the child ? and she said, It is well. 7 I 
endeavored to show the reason there was to say this ; 
but surely there was never any dispensation of Provi- 
dence in which I found it so hard, for my very soul 
had been overwhelmed within me ; but it pleased God 
that in composing the sermon my mind became quiet- 
ed, and I was brought into a more silent and cordial 
submission to the divine will. 

" At the Lord's table I discoursed on these words, 
1 Although my house be not so with God/ etc. I ob- 
served domestic calamities may befall good men in 
their journey through life, and particularly in relation 
to their children, but that they have a refuge in God's 
covenant : it is everlasting, it is sure, it is well-order- 
ed ; every provision is made according to our necessi- 

Doddridge. 7 



146 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

ties, and it shall be all our salvation, as it is the object 
of otir most affectionate regard. 

" I here solemnly recollected that I had in a for- 
mer sacrament taken the cup with these words, ■ Lord, 
I take this cup as a public and solemn token that I 
will refuse no other cup which thou shalt put into my 
hand/ I mentioned this recollection, and charged it 
publicly on myself and my Christian friends. God 
has taken me at my word, but I do not retract it; I 
repeat it again with regard to every future cup. 

"lam just come from the coffin of my dear child, 
who seems to be sweetly asleep there, with a serene, 
composed, delightful countenance, once how animated 
with double life. There, lo, Oh my soul, lo, there is 
thine idol laid still in death : the creature which stood 
next to God in thy heart. Methinks I would learn 
to be dead with her — dead to the world. Oh that I 
could be dead with her ! not any further than that her 
dear memory may promote my living to God. 

" I had a great deal of edifying conversation last 
night and this morning with my wife, whose wisdom 
does indeed make her face to shine under this afflic- 
tion. She is supported and animated with a courage 
which seems not at all natural to her; talks with the 
utmost freedom, and has really said many of the 
most useful things that ever were said to me by any 
person upon the earth, both as to consolation and 
admonition. This is to me very surprising when I 
consider her. usual reserve. I have all imaginable 
reason to believe that God will make this affliction a 
great blessing to her, and I hope it may prove so to 
me. There was a fond complacence and delight 



PASTORATE AT NORTHAMPTON. 147 

which I took in Betsey beyond any thing living. 
Although she had not a tenth part of that rational, 
manly love which I pay to her mamma and many sur- 
viving friends, yet it leaves a peculiar pain upon my 
heart, and it is almost as if my very gall were poured 
out upon the earth. Yet much sweetness mingles 
itself with this bitter potion, chiefly in the views and 
hope of my speedy removal to the eternal world. 
May not this be the beauty of Providence : instead of 
her living many years upon the earth, may not God 
have taken away my child that I might be fitted for 
and reconciled to my own dissolution, perhaps nearly 
approaching ? I verily believe I shall meet her there, 
and enjoy much more of her in heaven than I should 
have done had she survived me on earth. Lord, thy 
will be done : may my life be used for thy service 
while continued, and then put thou a period to it 
whenever thou pleasest." 

REFLECTIONS AFTER THE FUNERAL OF HIS CHILD. 

" Oct. 4, 1736. I have now been laying the de- 
light of my eyes in the dust, and it is for ever hidden 
from them. My heart was too full to weep. We had 
a suitable sermon by Mr. Hunt, from the words, 'Doest 
thou well to be angry because of the gourd V I hope 
God knows that I am not angry, but sorrowful he sure- 
ly allows me to be. I bless God I have my hopes that 
my child is lodged in the arms of Christ. Blessed 
God, hast thou not received her ? I trust that thou 
hast, and pardoned the infirmities of her poor, short, 
childish, afflicted life. I hope, in some measure out 
of love to me as thy servant, thou hast done it for 



148 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

Christ's sake ; and I would consider the very hope as 
an engagement to thy future service. Lord, I love 
those who were kind to my child, and those that 
wept with me for her; shall I not much more love 
thee, who, I hope, art this moment taking care of her, 
and opening her infant faculties for the duties and 
blessedness of heaven ? 

" Lord, I would consider myself as a dying crea- 
ture. My first-born is gone ; my beloved child is laid 
in bed before me. I have often followed her to bed 
in a literal sense, and shortly shall follow her to 
that where we shall lie down together, and our rest 
shall be together in the dust. In a literal sense the 
grave is ready for me. My grave is made. I have 
looked into it ; a dear part of myself is already there ; 
and when I stood at the Lord's table I stood directly 
over it. It is some pleasure to me to think that my 
dust will be lodged near that of my dear lamb ; how 
much more to hope that my soul will rest with hers, 
and rejoice in her for ever. But Oh, let me not centre 
my thoughts even here ; it is a rest with and in God, 
that is my ultimate hope. Lord, may thy grace secure 
it to me, and in the mean time give me some holy 
acquiescence of soul in thee; and though my gourd 
be withered, yet shelter me under the shadow of thy 
wings." 

Before we pass from this mournful topic, we may 
remark that it was said the bereaved father wrote his 
funeral-sermon for this beloved daughter with his 
paper resting on her coffin; and that it was of this 
" lovely Betsey " the touching tale was told, that, when 



PASTORATE AT NORTHAMPTON. 149 

she had one day numbered up a long catalogue of 
friends, and she was asked why almost every one loved 
her, her reply, with all the vivacity of childhood, was, 
" Every one loves Tetsy, because Tetsy loves every 
body. 77 

As illustrative of the character of the times, and 
as introducing to us one of the most lovely of Dod- 
dridge^ students, we may transcribe from his corre- 
spondence a brief narrative. Speaking of Brixworth, 
a village in the neighborhood of Northampton, he says, 
" A poor but honest man in that place had procured 
Mr. Darracott, one of my pupils, to come over and 
repeat a sermon, [the recitation of a sermon written by 
another.] Before the congregation was come together, 
some of ' the baser sort, 7 instigated by the steward of 
a lady of note in the town, attempted to disturb them 
by throwing stones through the glass window, and 
huzzaing at the door; and the master of the house 
going out to quiet them, was assaulted, had a gun 
presented to his breast, and was driven in for shelter. 
Afterwards, however, he and Mr. Darracott ventured 
to go to the constables, who were then at the George 
Inn at a Court-leet; there they asked for help, but 
in vain ; they were forcibly driven out of the house, 
and pelted with dirt, stones, and sticks in their return, 
as they had been as they went. Afterwards Mr. Dar- 
racott being conveyed away from a house where he 
had taken shelter, they demanded him, as they said, 
that they might be the death of him ; they seized Beck, 
almost smothered him in the mud, as they drew him 
through a horsepond, and at last tore his coat from 



150 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

his back. He then escaped into the house, and was 
in two hours after guarded home by the constables. 

" The parties came over to me the next day, and 
our justices granted a warrant, by virtue of which 
four of the chief offenders were carried before Mr. 

W , a tory justice in the neighborhood, who is 

the fittest man I know in the world to act the part of 
Jeffries a second time, if a proper occasion offered. 
He treated Beck as if he had been a felon, laid all 
the blame upon him, declared it was impudence to 
call these things an assault, and forced him by threats 
of imprisonment to subscribe to a very defective infor- 
mation, against many articles of which he protested, 
and at last allowed him two shillings damages to 
mend his windows, and two for the warrant." 

To the fidelity and success of Mr. Darracott, who 
at this time had only arrived at the age of twenty 
years, we give the following testimony from the 
graphic pen of Dr. James Hamilton. 

" When his college course was ended, and in all 
the freshness of youth, he was invited to become the 
minister of the Presbyterian congregation at Wel- 
lington, in Somersetshire. This little town was just 
the sort of place where ordinary zeal would have 
dwindled down to decency, and where caged ambi- 
tion would have fretted at the smallness of its sphere. 
But Darracott's was more than common zeal ; and so 
long as there were thousands of unconverted men 
in Wellington, there were abundant objects for his 
ambition. Accordingly, commencing with a com- 
munion-roll of twenty-eight, he began to preach with 
as much warmth and energy as if the entire town 



PASTORATE AT NORTHAMPTON. 151 

were resorting to his ministry. With moderate 
scholarship, and with nothing brilliant in his thoughts, 
his eager aspect and glowing countenance gave to 
truths ofttold a freshness equal to originality, and 
even to the coarsest minds there was something irre- 
sistibly captivating in the suavity of his spirit, and 
the refinement of the Christian gentleman ; and as the 
gospel which he preached had a constant exponent in 
an eye ever beaming, and in a frame ever bounding 
with active benevolence, it is not wonderful that * the 
common people heard him gladly. ; When he per- 
ceived any one unusually attentive or solemnized, it 
was his plan to write a letter, or pay an early visit, 
in order to urge the impression home; and he was 
unwearied in his efforts to bring amiable or awaken- 
ed hearers to the grand decision which divides the 
church from the world, and formality from faith. 
His paramount zeal for his Master was nobly display- 
ed in his anxiety to bring to Wellington preachers 
more powerful than himself, and a visit which he 
secured from Whitefield was the means of a memor- 
able and salutary excitement in that little town. It 
was chiefly among the poor and illiterate that Mr. 
Darracott's ministry prospered; but among poachers 
and vagrants, foreign mountebanks and clodpolls, 
who could not read the alphabet, as well as among 
farmers and tradesmen, he saw many triumphs of the 
all-transforming gospel. Among his forays in the 
surrounding villages, one hamlet is specified as a 
singular trophy of his fervent ministry. So addicted 
to drunkenness, rioting, and fighting was Rogue's 
Green, that it had become the Nazareth of that neigh- 



152 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

borhood. However, into this den of depravity Mr. 
Darracott found his way, and the result of his labors 
was, that in a hamlet where there had not been a sin- 
gle worshipper, there remained scarcely a single house 
in which the evening traveller would not hear the 
voice of prayer and praise. And when, after eigh- 
teen years of unflagging toil, this good man died his 
blessed death, instead of twenty-eight, he left a church 
of three hundred members. One of the last cordials 
vouchsafed to Doddridge before he left his native 
land, was a sight of this beloved pupil in the very 
zenith of his usefulness. A w r eek before he embarked 
for Lisbon he spent a night at Wellington, and on the 
morning of his departure told his young friend that 
his joys were now too much for his enfeebled body to 
sustain." 

The language of Dr. Hamilton in this description 
of Mr. Darracott is strong, but not more so than was 
that of Doddridge himself, who visited him in 1741, 
and thus wrote to Mrs. Doddridge : " Mr. Darracott is 
in all respects a most happy man, and absolutely the 
most successful minister I have known among us for 
many years. He prayed last night in a manner 
which approached as nearly to inspiration as any 
thing I have heard, or ever expect to hear." 

To Mrs. Doddridge. 

" Kensington, Mrs. Seaman's, Feb. 3, 1738. 

" My dear Creature— I walked hither, and had 

the great satisfaction to find the good Mrs. Godwin, 

whose life was almost despaired of, most charmingly 

recovered. We took a walk together of at least a 



PASTORATE AT NORTHAMPTON. 153 

mile, and saw, I need not tell yon with what emotion, 
a house in which the blessed Queen Mary, consort of 
William III, and good Mr. Addison lived. It is one 
of the most romantic and antique I anywhere remem- 
ber. Coming back too late to go home safely to- 
night, I accepted the kind proposal of my friends to 
lodge here, and take this time from their conversation, 
agreeable as it is, to converse with the best of my 
human friends. Oh, my dear, how eagerly do I wish 
it were not in this distant, this laborious, this imper- 
fect manner, but as the Hebrews most emphatically 
say, l mouth to mouth.' 

" I have just before me a fine picture of Lucretia 
dying with a dagger in her breast; in the next room 
there is one of Susannah and the two elders ; but I do 
not now like to see such things, for every beautiful 
object reminds me of you. I will not say you have 
all the charms of Eve, and all the virtues of her love- 
ly daughters united in yourself; but I can truly say, 
you have enough for me, and too much to leave me 
any possibility of forgetting you for one waking hour, 
or of enjoying any thing with full satisfaction till I 
can return to you." 

To the Same. 

"Cambridge, June 18, 1741. 
11 As agreeable as I find this seat of the Muses, I 
must needs forget every other amusement for a little 
while, that I may indulge myself in the pleasure of 
conversing with you, and may continue the history of 
my travels. My last was dated on Monday, from St. 
Ives, from whence on Tuesday morning we went over 
to Abbot's Ripton, where good Mr. Jones received 

7* 



154 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

us with his usual good-humor and friendship. Mrs. 
Bonfoy immediately sent for me and all my friends, 
and we really spent the day delightfully, in the midst 
of all the pleasure which a very agreeable house, 
handsome entertainment, lively yet serious conversa- 
tion, and the most frank and generous respect and 
friendship could afford us ; I indeed quitted the fami- 
ly in the evening with great regret. 

" As for the town where I now am, it is in itself a 
very sorry kind of place, if you except the colleges and 
the public buildings belonging to them. King's col- 
lege and Trinity are both charming, and I think beyond 
any thing in Oxford. I have seen several great curi- 
osities in the libraries, to which I found a ready access 
through the complaisance of the students and fellows, 
and sometimes by Mr. Jones' means. I waited yes- 
terday on Dr. Middleton, who showed me the fine 
University library, and some of the most curious 
manuscripts in the world. I was most courteously 
entertained by Dr. Newcomb, master of St. John's; 
and though I have, to my great grief, been so unfor- 
tunate as to miss of Mr. Warburton, I have met with 
Mr. Caryl, a particular friend of his, a fellow of 
Jesus college, and a very worthy gentleman; he 
supped with me last night, and invited me and all my 
company to dine with him to-day. Mr. Henchett was 
so complaisant as to attend me hither, or rather in- 
deed having met me at St. Ives, came hither before 
me, and we were yesterday his guests. I assure you 
every thing here is exceedingly good in its kind, and 
I met with very few places in our long journey where 
the accommodation was any thing comparable to what 



PASTORATE AT NORTHAMPTON. 155 

I meet with at this good house, which though it be the 
Cardinal's Hat, will always be sure of my good word. 
I hope this will not be thought further argument of 
my being turned papist, though I really think it one 
of the best that can be produced.* And now, my 
dear, I beg you would accept of the united compli- 
ments of the chancellor and vice-chancellor of this 
ancient and celebrated university, as also of those of 
many of the heads and fellows of the respective col- ' 
leges." 

To the Same. 

"Bury, June 20,1741. 
" I cannot in reason expect many days of my life 
in which I am absent from you to be so entertaining 
to me as last Thursday was, for I spent all the morn- 
ing with a very learned and ingenious friend of Mr. 
Warburton's, who is a fellow of Jesus college, and 
who invited me and Mr. Jennings, Mr. Parminter, 
and Mr. Notcutt, the dissenting minister there, to dine 
with him ; to which he added a most pressing invita- 
tion to me to come and spend a fortnight or more as 
I pleased with him in the college. He carried me to 
several other colleges, where I was very respectfully 
received, and then drank tea with Dr. Middleton at his 
house. He showed me several very fine curiosities, 
and I, on the other hand, had the pleasure of inform- 
ing him of several very curious and valuable manu- 
scripts in the library of which he has charge, of which 
neither the doctor himself, nor any of the gentlemen 

* A preposterous report that the doctor was a Jesuit in 
disguise was raised in consequence of the Christian charity 
which he had shown in the case of poor Connell. 



156 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

of the university had even so much as heard, though 
they are the oldest monuments relating to the churches 
of Italy which continued uncorrupted in the great 
darkness of Popery, between six and seven hundred 
years ago ; and it is most astonishing to me that the 
university should know nothing of them: perhaps it 
might be because Cromwell lodged them there ; and 
indeed, their libraries want some of the best books 
which have of late appeared among us, being written 
by dissenters, nor did my learned friends there so 
much as know that such books were ever published. 

" A young poet of great character in the Univer- 
sity supped with me, and it was not till eleven yester- 
day morning that I could get to Cambridge. The 
rain caught us, so that we were forced to lie by sev- 
eral hours, but we got well to Bury last night about 
seven o'clock, and have here met with a very kind 
reception. Mr. Steward's company is very entertain- 
ing and improving and good. Mr. Webb is a gener- 
ous, pious, and obliging friend, with whom I could be 
glad to spend a great deal more time than I must 
allow myself here." 

From the Rev. W. Warburton, D. D. 

"London, June 25, 1741. 
" When your last kind letters with the discourse 
came to London, I was on a ramble with Mr. Pope up 
and down, and among other places, at Oxford ; from 
whence I am but just returned. I have read over 
your fine abstract with great pleasure. It is too good 
for the journal. I shall reserve it for use when I 
recapitulate my long general argument at the end of 
the third volume, where it will be of use to me. 



PASTORATE AT NORTHAMPTON. 151 

"My worthy friend Mr. Caryl, master of Jesus 
college, tells me you have been at Cambridge ; and 
is so won with his new acquaintance that he expresses 
himself to me in these words, which for once I will 
not scruple to transcribe from his letter : 

" ' Dr. Doddridge spent a couple of days here last 
week. I showed him all the civility I could ; at first 
indeed merely as a friend of yours, but it soon became 
the result of my own inclinations. He favored me 
with much curious conversation, and if I judge right, 
is a man of great parts and learning, and of a candid 
and communicative temper. I now reckon him among 
my acquaintance, and thank you for him. ? 

"You see what a liberty I have taken with my 
friend's letter ; but the pleasure I had in receiving it 
made me think his words as well as his sentiments my 
property." 

To Mrs. Doddridge. 

" Yarmouth, July 2, 1741. 
" At length, my dearest, though not without some 
difficulty, I am broken away from Norwich. I felt 
that separation the less as I brought away with me 
Mr. Scott and his most agreeable daughter. We 
spent Tuesday at Denton, and it was one of the most 
delightful days of my whole life. Seventeen minis- 
ters were there, of which eight officiated indeed ex- 
ceedingly well. We held a kind of council after- 
wards concerning the methods to be taken for the 
revival of religion, and I hope I have set them on 
work to some purpose ; on the whole I had such com- 
munion with God, in all the duties of the day, and 
saw all things so well conducted in it, that I should 



158 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

have thought all the labors of the journey well repaid 
by it. The respect and tenderness with which I was 
treated by all the ministers confounded me in some 
measure, as well as delighted me." 

To the Same. 

" Tiverton, June 25, 1742. 
" On Saturday I arrived at Exeter, where I found 
a whole synod of ministers ready to receive me ; and 
such a feast prepared as put me out of countenance, 
which is, alas, my daily exercise. Mr. Tozer is a 
charming man, and I never saw so many fine women 
of any one family. They all treat me with the kind- 
ness of sisters, and multiply their favors upon me 
beyond all I can easily express. Entertainments 
have been daily provided for me by the principal 
families, and I have seen that noble palace which once 
belonged to my family. [This was the favorite resi- 
dence of Sir John Doddridge.] My arms are there 
curiously carved over the great mantle-piece in the 
dining-room, which is quite a room of state ; and in 
several other places, particularly in a great upper 
room one hundred and twenty feet long, which is 
surrounded with the arms of all the nobility and gen- 
try in these parts. I assure you, my dear, I saw this 
without any regret ; and I hope I have a much nobler 
mansion reserved for me in my Father's house above ; 
and in the meantime am incomparably happier with 
you in my present circumstances, than such a seat and 
all the estate once belonging to Mount Radford could 
make me without you, or without my dear charge at 
Northampton/ 7 



PASTORATE AT NORTHAMPTON. 159 

To the Same. 

"Northampton, Oct. 13, 1742. 

" I cannot express the concern with which I hear 
by good Mr. Osten that you are worse ; that you are 
obliged to leave off the Bath waters, to consult Dr. 
Oliver, etc. It would really wound me to the heart 
if my expectations should be disappointed, and you 
were to come back worse than you went. 

" I dare not even think of the consequences ; our 
meeting would be so distressful, that so far as per- 
sonal satisfaction was concerned, I should be glad to 
hide myself in the grave from the bitterness and 
agony of such an interview. Indeed, my dear, I love 
you too well ; and though I sometimes admire myself 
wonderfully for being able to sleep, and study, and 
go cheerfully through my business, though you be not 
here, yet when such a shocking idea as this arises I 
find my heart is a great hypocrite, and that much of 
its tranquillity was owing to the sweet hope that you 
were all this while growing better, and that it was 
indeed little more than the generosity of the miser 
who can part with his money for a while, and be 
pretty easy though it is out of sight, when he expects 
to receive it quickly with larger interest." 

To the Same. 

" Northampton, Oct. 31, 1742. 
" I question not, my dear, that you and Miss Rap- 
pit are both wishing yourselves with us, and we should 
greatly rejoice in your being so ; and yet I hope it 
will be some comfort to you to think that we shall 
remember you at the Lord's table, and recommend 



160 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

you to the divine support during your absence. And 
I hope, my dear, you will not be offended when I tell 
you that I am — what I hardly thought it possible, 
without a miracle, that I should have been — very easy 
and happy without you. My days begin, pass, and 
end in pleasure, and seem short because they are so 
delightful. 

" It may seem strange to say it, but really so it is, 
I hardly feel that I want any thing. I often think of 
you, and pray for you, and bless God on your account, 
and please myself with the hope of many comfortable 
days and weeks and years with you ; yet I am not at 
all anxious about your return, or indeed about any 
thing else. And the reason, the great and sufficient 
reason is, that I have more of the presence of God 
with me than I remember ever to have enjoyed in any 
one month of my life. He enables me to live for him 
and to live with him. 

11 When I awake in the morning, which is always 
before it is light, I address myself to Him, and con- 
verse with him, speak to him when I am lighting my 
candle and putting on my clothes, and have often 
more delight before coming out of my chamber, though 
it be hardly a quarter of an hour after awaking, than 
I have enjoyed for whole days, or perhaps weeks of 
my life. He meets me in my study, in secret, and in 
family devotion. It is pleasant to read, pleasant to 
compose, pleasant to converse with my friends at home, 
pleasant to visit those abroad — the poor, the sick; 
pleasant to write letters of necessary business by 
which any good can be done ; pleasant to go out and 
preach the gospel to poor souls, some of whom are 



PASTORATE AT NORTHAMPTON. 161 

thirsting for it, and others dying without it ; pleasant 
in the week-day to think how near another Sabbath 
is; but Oh, much more pleasant to think how near 
eternity is. and how short the journey through this 
wilderness, and that it is but a step from earth to 
heaven. 

" I cannot forbear in these circumstances pausing a 
little, and considering whence this happy scene just 
at this time arises, and whither it tends. Whether 
God is about to bring upon me any peculiar trial, 
for which this is to prepare me ; whether he is shortly 
about to remove me from the earth, and so is giving 
me more sensible prelibations of heaven, to prepare 
me for it ; or whether he intends to do some peculiar 
services by me just at this time, which many other cir- 
cumstances lead me sometimes to hope; or whether it 
be, that in answer to your prayers, and in compassion 
to that distress which I must otherwise have felt in 
the absence and illness of her who has been so exceed- 
ingly dear to me, and was never more sensibly dear 
to me than now, he is pleased to favor me with this 
experience ; in consequence of which I freely own I 
am less afraid than ever of any event that can possi- 
bly arise consistent with his nearness to my heart and 
the tokens of his paternal and covenant love. I will 
muse no further on the cause. It is enough the effect 
is so blessed. 

" Since I began this letter I have attended family 
"prayer. I wish I could communicate to you and dear 
Miss Rappit the pleasure I found in reading the 
Promises in Mr. Clarke's Collection, pages 106, 107, 
and singing the eighty-ninth Psalm. 



162 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

" But the post calls, and I must therefore conclude, 
wishing you all the happiness I feel, and more if your 
heart could contain it." 

To the Same. 

" Northampton, March 6, 1743. 

" If writing your last charming letter did not hurt 
yourself I am glad you sent it, for it came most sea- 
sonably, and produced a very agreeable effect. You 
knew, my dearest, it would arrive on Lord's-day 
night : it was on sacrament-day ; and indeed it was 
a most comfortable one to me : my joy at that ordi- 
nance was so great that I could not well contain it. 
I had much ado to forbear telling to all about me as 
well as I could, for it would have been but in a very 
imperfect manner, what a divine flame I felt in my 
soul, which indeed put me greatly in mind of Mr. 
Howe's 'full stream of rays/ Were it possible to 
carry such impressions through life, it would give the 
soul a kind of independence far too high for a mortal 
existence. It was indeed, in the most literal and 
proper sense, ' a joy unspeakable and full of glory.' 
I doubt not my dearest earthly friend, that it was in 
a considerable measure in answer to your prayers. I 
had promised myself that we should then have been 
together, but God was pleased to give me so much, 
that he left no room to complain of what he withheld. 
You may be assured, however, that I could not fail to 
remember you in such circumstances. 

"The bell rings for prayer, so I must conclude 
abruptly. I am pleased to think what a meeting 
good Mrs. Howe has had with that glorious spirit 



PASTORATE AT NORTHAMPTON. 163 

above whose memory is so precious to us both.* Oh, 
what are dukes or princes when compared with such 
persons ? May not you and I, my dearest, hope for 
such a meeting too ? How much beyond that which 
the fondness of our hearts leads us to expect at 
Northampton." 

To the Same. 

" Bury, June 26, 1744. 

" As I have this morning, the anniversary of the 
day which brought me into the world, been reflecting 
seriously on the mercies of our gracious God which 
have attended me here, I could not but think of you 
among the chief of them ; and have been unfeignedly 
addressing my praises to him for giving me, in so near 
and important a relation, so prudent and tender, so 
faithful and pious a friend, who has every quality that 
can be imagined to recommend her to my esteem. I 
have been blessing him for restoring you so often 
from languishing and dangerous illness, and therein 
giving me a new life; and I have been entreating 
him to continue so invaluable a blessing, and to give 
me wisdom to prize it as I ought. 

" And now, my dearest, I renew my thanks to you 
for all your care of me and goodness to me, which I 
pray God abundantly to repay you, as I believe and 
hope he will, since I persuade myself that religion as 
well as friendship has its part in the many good 
offices you are continually doing me. I long, as you 

* " Mrs. Howe, widow of the great and pious John Howe, 
died here last week; a good woman, full of years, being near 
ninety : and last night died the poor Duke of Hamilton." From 
a letter of Mrs. Doddridge, dated Bath, March 2, 1743. 



164 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

may easily believe, to see you again; nor does my 
birthday, amid all the congratulations and kindnesses 
of my friends, give me a complete pleasure while I am 
separated from the better half of myself. 

" Greet my friends and children, but accept of the 
best greetings yourself from him who is entirely and 
affectionately yours." 

To Miss Doddridge, at Mrs. Linton's, Worcester. 

" Northampton, May 7, 1748. 

" My dear Child — I cannot let the anniversary of 
your birthday pass without one line of most affection- 
ate congratulation. I have been blessing God for his 
goodness to you, my lovely girl, and to me and your 
mamma in you. I have been earnestly recommend- 
ing you to the divine blessing, and praying that the 
years of your life may be multiplied long beyond the 
boundaries of mine, and that they may all be crowned 
with loving-kindness and tender mercy. And now, 
my dear, let me tell you, if a hasty word can tell you, 
how much I love you, how much I delight in you, how 
earnestly I long to see you, how much pleasure I take 
even in every expense which may contribute to your 
improvement and satisfaction. 

" Indeed, I believe there have been few instances 
in which a child has been dearer to her parents, or 
has deserved to be dearer. You have, from your 
very infancy, been all duty and tenderness, and we 
ought to thank God, and to thank you, for the com- 
fort we have had in you. Above all, does it delight 
us to think there is room to hope that you are a child 
of God, that you love him as a father, and have sought 
and found that salvation in Christ which is more than 



PASTORATE AT NORTHAMPTON. 165 

ten thousand worlds. It is this, my dear love, that 
comforts my heart in the midst of that solicitude 
which so much affection as it feels would inspire, 
when I think of the tenderness of your constitution, 
and of the possibility there is, at least, that you may 
be taken away from us in early life : a thought which 
would otherwise distress me extremely; but I have 
given you to God : I hope you have given yourself to 
him, and that you will quickly do it at his table. 
Think of it, however, and pray that you may be ad- 
vancing in fitness for that great honor and privilege ; 
and renew the dedication of yourself to God every 
day, and labor to approve every action and every 
thought to him. I hope, my dear, your determinate 
and established piety will be a blessing to the youn- 
ger children of the family, and a joy to us to the latest 
day of our lives. 

" May you see many of these days, and may they 
be days of growing comfort and usefulness: forgive 
me, if I say, may you see many of them with us or 
near us, for truly I long to have you near us again; 
and have found your absence the only part of the 
price of your education which I have thought dear. 
I rejoice to think I am likely, if Providence spare our 
lives — yet how precarious are they — to see you, and my 
other much-loved children, so soon. Yet, to a papa 
that loves you so well, even these few weeks will seem 
long. You must therefore, on receiving this letter, 
indulge me in the pleasure of a line, and write me 
your heart, and I will not stand with you for the ele- 
gance of the hand. Above all, pray for us every day. 
Your sisters and your brother are well; he grows a 



166 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

fine scholar, and will, I hope, be worthy to be called 
the brother of so amiable a girl. 

" I wish I could convey any little present on the 
agreeable occasion of my writing to-day; but take 
our love and our blessing, and any thing else will 
follow as we have opportunity. Farewell, my dear 
child, and believe that I shall think myself happy in 
any occasion of showing you how much I am your 
affectionate papa." 

Miss Doddridge subsequently was married to John 
Humphreys, Esq., of Tewksbury, an attorney of high 
rank at that time, and having extensive practice. 
She died June 8, 1799, at the age of sixty-six. She 
is represented to have been a woman of affectionate 
tenderness, ardent piety, enlarged benevolence, and 
Christian liberality. 

Her beautiful character is said to be faithfully de- 
lineated in the following lines by Mrs. Barbauld, on 
the death of her grandmother, the Mrs. Jennings who 
is often referred to in the earlier portion of this vol- 
ume. 

" 'Tis past: dear venerable shade, farewell ! 
Thy blameless life, thy peaceful death shall tell, 
The truest praise was hers — a cheerful heart, 
Prone to enjoy and ready to impart. 
An Israelite indeed, and free from guile, 
She showed that piety and age could smile. 
Religion had her heart, her cares, her voice — 
Twas her last refuge, as her earliest choice. 
To holy Anna's spirit not more dear 
The church of Israel and the house of prayer: 
Matured at length for some more perfect scene, 
Her hopes all bright, her prospects all serene, 



PASTORATE AT NORTHAMPTON. 161 

Each part of life sustained with equal worth, 
And not a wish left unfulfilled on earth, 
Like a tried traveller, with sleep oppressed, 
Within her children's arms she dropped to rest. 
Farewell ! thy cherished image, ever dear, 
Shall many a heart with pious love revere." 

To Miss Doddridge. 

■ Walthamston, July 31, 1749. 

" My lovely Girl — Your dear mamma, for being 
related to whom both you and I shall have reason to 
bless God as long as we live, will, I am sure, have the 
goodness to excuse me, that I fail writing to her this 
post, that I may pay my respects to you and relieve 
her from the trouble of answering this, which will 
naturally fall to your share. As I have but little 
time, it happens very well that I have not much to 
say, more than to assure you of my tenderest love, and 
great joy that you are, through the divine goodness, 
so well recovered. Indeed, you are so dear to me, 
that every thing which looks like danger to you afflicts 
me sensibly in its most distant approach. 

" It has pleased God so to form my heart that I 
question whether any man living feels more exquis- 
itely on such occasions. The life of either of my chil- 
dren, and of such a child, is more to me than the 
treasures of a kingdom ; and there is hardly any thing 
in which your excellent mamma is not immediately 
concerned, which I so much desire, as that you may 
all live to bless the world many years after I have 
left it. Now, when I feel this tender affection so 
warm in my heart, it is a great pleasure to me, as it 
should be to you, to reflect that ! as a father pitieth 
his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. ? 



168 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

" My dear child, you live by the divine compassion 
to you and to me, indeed, I may say, to both your 
parents, for you are exceedingly dear to us both. 
Let me earnestly entreat you to bear the sense of it 
upon your heart, and to consider that every instance 
in which God is pleased to afflict you, or to remove 
the stroke of his hand, calls for serious recollection 
as well as grateful acknowledgment. It calls for a 
solemn inquiry into the reasons of the divine conduct : 
wherefore it is that God contends with us, and what 
returns he expects from us when he delivers us from 
going down to the grave. 

" It gives me, my dear, unutterable joy to think 
that you have deliberately chosen the service of God, 
and solemnly given yourself up to Christ at his table ; 
that you have there taken refuge and sanctuary in 
his blood, and entered yourself into the number of 
those who profess themselves his faithful disciples. I 
pray God you may be ever faithful. I would not 
flatter any one, especially my child ; and I hope I do 
not flatter myself in the many good things I think of 
you. I truly think that you have many excellent dis- 
positions by nature, if I may be allowed the expres- 
sion : great humanity, great sweetness of temper, and 
tenderness of conscience, ready compassion for the 
distressed, a remarkable willingness to oblige others, 
and a grateful sense of obligations to them, adorned 
with native modesty and humility, which really add 
a great lustre to all. These are lovely qualities, and 
I bless God who hath given you so much of them, 
and, I trust, sanctified them all by his grace. 

" Your next question will naturally be, ' And what 



PASTORATE AT NORTHAMPTON. 169 

do I want to complete my character V Shall I, my 
dear, tell you plainly ? I think it is resolution, dili 
gence, and activity. Indolence and a disposition to 
trifle seem to me your great snares. You will there- 
fore, not only to oblige your parents, but to please 
God, and in some measure to repay his benefits, 
guard against them. Remember, my love, I entreat 
you, that we were all made to do good; and though 
that gracious Being who knows our frame and our 
circumstances, requires no moi;e than he has given us 
a capacity to perform, yet he requires that, even in 
the most private station of life. 

" You will, I hope, often remember — what indeed, 
my dear, you sometimes seem to forget, more than, 
from your natural good sense, I should expect — that 
the years of childhood are now past, and that you 
have entered upon the responsibility of rational life ; 
and you will, I persuade myself, be solicitous that 
you may act wisely, of which you have daily before 
you a most amiable and edifying example in your 
dear mamma, from whom all who are about her may 
learn every thing that can, in private life, adorn relig- 
ion and make those around us happy. Endeavor 
therefore, like her, to divide your time in a proper 
proportion between devotion, reading, working, and 
improving conversation : not overburdening your del- 
icate frame, for that would grieve me much, but 
always aiming at 'something that is right and good; 
in the pursuit of which, that strong understanding 
with which it has pleased God to bless you, will 
direct you, and which you will find a thousand times 
more pleasant than a life of indolence can possibly 

Doddridpe. O 



nO PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

be ; especially when you consider that every capacity 
of doing good is a talent which God hath committed 
to us, and for which we are accountable. 

"These, my dear girl, are hints which I have 
often given you, and I now give them in writing, that 
you may review them at your leisure, and communi- 
cate them, whenever you think it necessary, to your 
sisters, that you and they may see how very near 
your interest lies to my heart. I must now conclude, 
only adding, that through the divine goodness I am 
perfectly well, and as happy in the friends now about 
me as I can be, while absent from those who must be 
dearest of all. I please myself with the hope that a 
few weeks will bring me back to you again, and that 
the day of my return comes nearer every hour. In 
the meantime, you and your dear mamma and sisters 
may assure yourselves that you freely divide my heart 
among you, in such a manner as that each has at least 
as large a share as she ought, and it is well if each 
has not a larger ; and the necessary consequence is, 
that you share my prayers too, in which respect I 
hope you will endeavor to balance accounts with, my 
dear child, your ever affectionate papa." 

The domestic letters of the preceding pages ex- 
hibit so fully and so beautifully the private character 
of Doddridge, as a husband and a father, that no 
comment is needed. Among his papers stands this 
record : 

" As a husband, it shall be my daily care to keep 
up the spirit of religion in my conversation with 
my wife; to recommend her to the divine blessing; 



PASTORATE AT NORTHAMPTON. 171 

to manifest an obliging, tender disposition towards 
her ; and particularly to avoid every thing which has 
the appearance of pettishness, to which, amid my 
various cares and labors, I may in some unguarded 
moments be liable." 

It is said that he took a deep interest in promot- 
ing also the interests of her relatives, when they were 
in circumstances of destitution and affliction. 

His multiplied and incessant engagements as a 
pastor and tutor, while they allowed him almost no 
time for the literary instruction of his children, did 
not prevent him from having a daily regard to their 
religious culture and general habits. Among his re- 
corded resolutions concerning his children, the follow- 
ing illustrates his paternal regard for their highest 
interests : 

" As a father, it shall be my care to intercede for 
my children daily; to converse with them often on 
some religious subject ; to drop some short hints of a 
serious kind, when there is not room for large dis- 
course; to pray sometimes with them separately; to 
endeavor to bring them early to communion with the 
church; to study to oblige them and secure their 
affection." 

He directed his attention with special care to the 
cultivation in them of a kind, liberal, and charitable 
spirit, as needful both to their own comfort and to 
their usefulness and esteem in the world. He had 
remarked that " too many from their tenderest years 
have been taught to place a part of their religion in 
the severity with which they censure their brethren ; 
and that a peccant humor, so early wrought into the 



172 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

constitution, will not easily be subdued by the most 
sovereign medicines." He guarded himself, therefore, 
against exciting in their youthful minds prejudices 
and unkind sentiments towards Christians of other 
denominations and peculiarities ; and taught them to 
reverence true Christianity wherever it existed, and 
to discriminate between essentials and circumstantials 
in their estimate of the religious character of others. 
Nor were the servants of the household overlooked. 
Towards them he was invariably affable and kind. 
Severity of reproof he never indulged in ; but when 
any gross misconduct had occurred, it was his prac- 
tice to argue the matter calmly with them, to admon- 
ish them, and to pray with them. He labored espec- 
ially for their conversion to Christ, furnishing them 
with the Bible and other religious books; and on 
Sabbath evenings, to all his other duties, added the 
labor of discoursing with them apart upon religious 
subjects, and of praying with them. Nothing severe, 
sour, or peevish was seen in his deportment to any of 
his domestics. He considered them all as his chil- 
dren, and endeavored to draw them to their duty with 
the cords of love. 

In his character as a friend, Dr. Doddridge shines 
preeminent. All his letters to his friends breathe 
the spirit of an elevated and disinterested friendship. 
Some of those already copied finely illustrate this 
remark. He was accustomed to say, " Blessed be 
God for friendship, and the hope of its being perfect- 
ed and eternal above. If it be so delightful on earth 
amid our mutual imperfections, what will it be in 






PASTORATE AT NORTHAMPTON. 173 

heaven!" His letter to Miss Clarke, under date of 
January 5, 1723, on a preceding page, may in this 
connection be read with interest. 

To his friend the Rev. Mr. Hughes he wrote, 
Nov. 25, 1726, "I entreat you, by all the tenderness 
of friendship, to come; and lest there should be any 
hinderance, I will most cheerfully defray the charges 
of your journey, which, if you come on horseback, 
cannot be great. You will have our company, my 
chamber, my books, my purse, as freely as you ever 
could your own ; nor would you question it, if you 
knew how entirely you command in my heart. Yes, 
my dear friend, I esteem you more than I can express. 
Your society would add a new relish to every enjoy- 
ment of life ; and to say as much as I possibly can, I 
am persuaded I shall take as much pleasure in serv- 
ing you as you could in serving me." 

Such being the amiable habit of Dr. Doddridge's 
mind and heart, added to other qualities of great 
worth, it is not surprising that he should have been 
honored with the esteem and love of many valued and 
valuable friends, among whom were many persons of 
rank and of high culture and respectability. His cor- 
respondence was extensive with the clergy and laity, 
in which the greatest respect is expressed for himself 
and his published writings. This high and general 
esteem he owed, not to his position, but to his per- 
sonal merit as a man and as an author. His acquaint- 
ance with persons of great opulence and of distinction 
was often turned to the benefit of persons in distress, 
in whose behalf he sought the bestowment of needed 
favors; but he never solicited favors for himself. 



1U PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

Alluding, as he sometimes did, to his distinguished 
friends and correspondents, he remarked, " Though I 
do not merit such friends, I know how to value them, 
and I bless God for them. I am not insensible of the 
blessing, and I hope ingratitude does not secretly 
lurk in any corner of my heart." 

His friends were not forgotten in his secret devo- 
tions. On days of extraordinary prayer they were 
individually commended to God, when the circum- 
stances of any seemed to require such particular re- 
gard. He looked upon intercession as a valuable 
proof and an admirable support of friendship. Hence 
he often asked for it, and regarded it as an invalua- 
ble treasure. 

Another expression of friendship which he greatly 
esteemed and employed, was the endeavor to improve 
the character and increase the usefulness of his friends, 
and to seek from them similar improvement of his 
own. He often spoke of it as a great blessing of his 
life, that God had provided him, in successive periods 
of life, with judicious, learned, faithful, and pious 
friends, by whose seasonable cautions and admonitions 
he had been preserved from many temptations and 
indiscretions, to which, in the earlier portions of life 
especially, his natural gayety and vivacity of temper 
had exposed him. Such friends he highly regarded, 
and thanked God for the beneficial influence of their 
faithful warnings. To one of his friends, who made 
an apology for the use of freedom in some sugges- 
tion for his benefit, he with great sincerity replied, 
" I thank God I have not that delicacy of temper that 
a friend should need to make an apology for saying 



PASTORATE AT NORTHAMPTON. 175 

and doing a kind and proper thing, when there is, 
what the foolish taste of the present age may some- 
times call, a freedom taken in it. Freedom in friend- 
ship is the very soul of it, and its necessary test and 
support." His own correspondence shows that he 
always endeavored to promote a pious disposition in 
those to whom he wrote, and to engage them in more 
earnest exertions for extending religion in the world. 
He often sought opportunities for personal religious 
conversation with them, for mutual benefit and enjoy- 
ment. He was accustomed to speak of the great 
pleasure which he found in the society of his friends, 
as affording him a delightful foretaste of the happi- 
ness of the heavenly world; and he referred to the 
snares and afflictions which arose even from friend- 
ship, as increasing his desire for that perfect state of 
being. 

His correspondence furnishes abundant illustra- 
tions of the above remarks. The following letters 
are of this character : 

To the Rev. Samuel Clarke, D. D. 
" From the Lodge in Whittlebury Forest, May 8, 1737. 

"I take so much pleasure in corresponding with 
you, that when a moment of leisure coincides with an 
opportunity of sending a line, I hardly know how to 
let it pass, and therefore I write now, though I have 
little particular to say. 

"My wife and I eloped yesterday, at the request 
of a very agreeable and excellent lady, and are ar- 
rived at a most elegant and rural retreat, where, in 
such company, especially if yours were added, I could 
delightfully spend more days than my engagements at 



176 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

home will allow me hours. The house is a pretty, well- 
furnished box, just in the centre of a fine forest, and 
all that shady lawns and woodland ridings can do to 
beautify and adorn it, is done. The birds and sport- 
ive deer come and pay their attendance, as if it were 
their very business to divert us. I am delighted to 
see how happily they all live, and have already con- 
tracted a kind of friendship for them, which makes 
me wish the lodges were nearer home, that I might 
now and then steal out and leave all my cares behind 
me, to come and wander a few hours in these lovely 
solitudes. 

" Many occasions have called me out of late ; and 
the fine country around us affords such a variety of 
entertaining scenes, that I cannot forbear pitying 
nobles and princes who are confined to a town in 
such a charming season, and I think the shepherd 
and the husbandman happier than they. In the mean- 
time I open my heart as widely as I can, to take in 
the innocent pleasure which arises from a friendly 
sympathy, not only with the lowest of my fellow- 
creatures, but even with the brutes themselves, in 
the ample provision that an indulgent Providence 
has made for their delight; and I cannot but often 
reflect on such occasions, that if this earth, the seat of 
a degenerate race of creatures, and under so many 
tokens of the Divine displeasure, be thus enriched 
and embellished, what must those regions be which 
God has prepared for the final abode of his dear chil- 
dren in their perfected state? 

"I must quickly return; but it is my great com- 
fort, that as I am to carry one very agreeable com- 



PASTORATE AT NORTHAMPTON. 177 

panion with me, so I shall find many more at North- 
ampton, and that I return to a scene of business which 
affords me pleasure ; for the sake of which it is well 
worth my while to relinquish the simple delights of 
this little paradise. 

"I bless God that the plantation under my care 
does in some degree flourish. My students behave 
with great regularity, and generally apply to their 
studies with diligence and success. They keep up 
four or five repetitions — [the reading of a sermon 
composed by another person, in some cases by Dr. 
Doddridge] — in the neighboring towns. I have, dear 
sir, many things to talk over with you, but must defer 
them till we meet at St. Albans, where my wife and 
I propose to spend three or four days on our return 
from London. In the meantime we unite in humble 
services to you and Mrs. Clarke, the dear children, 
and all friends ; and join in assuring you, that if we 
reserve our visit to you for one of the last, it is for 
this reason, among others, that there are few in which 
we expect equal pleasure." 

To the Rev. Samuel Ward. 

" Northampton, April 19, 1745. 
"There is hardly any thing that, when I reflect 
upon it, gives me so lively an idea of the manner in 
which I am pressed with my various engagements, as 
the dates of some unanswered letters from those whom, 
of all persons in the world, I most value, and partic- 
ularly of yours, one of January 25, and the other 
February 21, and those too, such letters as I am 
sure I never deserved, nor ever shall deserve to re- 
ceive, so full of cordial love, expressed in the most 

8* 



118 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

pathetic and endearing language, such indeed as 
hardly any one but yourself could write ; and mingled 
with such esteem too as I am, from my very heart, 
conscious to myself to be most undeserving of. 

" My dear brother, I am ashamed and confounded — ■ 
ashamed that you should think thus of me, and that I 
have not long since told you how I was overwhelmed, 
even to tears, with the affection which every line of 
your letters discovers. I will say nothing of my 
business, as you partly know it ; though the preparing 
of Acts for the press before the vacation, a second 
edition of the 'Rise and Progress' corrected with 
some small additions, and the reading and exhibiting 
of a course of experimental philosophy, at the rate of 
three lectures in a week, added to urgent and con- 
stant business, are circumstances which you could 
hardly, however, have thought of if not mentioned ; 
nor eighteen letters sent away in two days, some of 
them pretty large. Oh, with what delight could I, 
however weakened by my late illness, have poured 
out my heart to dear Mr. Ward in a whole sheet, 
and then have complained that I had room to empty 
no more of it in answer to the first or second alone. 
"You know not what a burden and grief it is to 
me to think that such and such a friend, as Mr. Ward, 
Mr. Barker, Mr. Scott, Dr. Clarke, Dr. Watts, or Col. 
Gardiner, is neglected this post and the next, and 
yet the next devoted, perhaps, to persons with whom 
^1 have no intimate friendship, and to whom I have 
no peculiar obligations, but because business, duty, 
or charity urge, and there can be no delay. What 
then? Do I forget those dear delightful names? 



PASTORATE AT NORTHAMPTON. 179 

Rather let me forget my food, my children, every 
thing but my Master. No, my heart bears them be- 
fore Him, though in too contracted words, yet cor- 
dially, tenderly, almost daily ; so that it is one of my 
evening questions, Have I prayed for those friends 
this day? 

"I wish you could see my inmost sentiments in 
this respect ; you would not then need letters to tell 
you that I esteem you in the bowels of Christ as one of 
his dearest servants, as one of my dearest brethren, as 
one with whom I could greatly rejoice, had such been 
the divine will, to have shared every day of life, and 
alternately to have attended and ministered to, in all 
the services of the house of my God. And indeed a 
friendship like that which I feel for you, dear sir, and 
a few such as you — Oh that there were very many — 
would oppress my spirit even beneath its own weight, 
if I did not assuredly hope to satiate it all in spending 
an eternity with you. Let this, my worthy brother, 
be the interpreter of my heart to you as long as we 
live ; for I look not upon it as a supposable case that 
our love can be broken. I think I cannot be so base 
as to deserve it ; and I am sure you are too generous 
to leave me any apprehension on the other side. 

" Write as often as you can, and be sure that every 
letter will cheer and quicken me ; but should this lie 
over for many months unanswered, though I should 
be in pain for your health, and long to hear of you 
and your amiable consort and child, yet I would never 
wrong our friendship by suspecting that you ceased 
to love and pray for me ; and however business, or a 
regard to health, which will not permit me always to 



180 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

hang over my desk, as, alas, I am forced too much to 
do, may occasion, as it universally does, delays which 
grieve me more than they can my friends ; be as- 
sured that if any occasion arise in which I can serve 
you by an immediate answer, I will not delay it one 
post, but would, as I have in other instances been 
forced to do, dictate from a bed of sickness, and would 
sign it, though it were with a dying hand. Thus much 
for delays past and future. 

"And now what room is there for an answer? I 
hope to see you at Norwich about the 20th of June, 
and then I will get an hour, if possible, to tell you all 
the story of my sickness and recovery. In the gen- 
eral, I can only say, that God even astonished me with 
his tender mercies ; and that the gospel, the pure, un- 
corrupted, scriptural gospel, without the aid or en- 
cumbrance of human schemes, is become dearer than 
ever to my soul; nor the less so for a certain key, 
which, inter nos, for I always write to you with entire 
confidence, seems broken in the lock. I wish some 
skilful hand like yours would take it out and show 
how wrong the wards are, and how badly tempered 
the metal, notwithstanding all the labor and polish. 

"In your success and the growth of your church I 
rejoice beyond expression. God has given me back 
my wife and eldest most delightful child, in wonderful 
mercy, from great danger, especially the last. I long 
to see your pretty little Latin scholar, to whom, with 
her dear mamma and your good self, my wife and I 
join in our best services. My wife, if able to under- 
take the journey, pleases herself much with the hope 
of seeing you both at Norwich. I shall rejoice to 



PASTORATE AT NORTHAMPTON. 181 

serve good Mr. Scott in aoy future instance. I grieve 
for the decline of our interest, under such excellent 
men too as those fixed in some of the places you men- 
tion. God is gracious to us here in strengthening 
us all around. You shall know more of the state of 
my academy when I see you. May your church, your 
family, and your soul, be like a watered garden. 77 

About this period the Rev. Dr. Taylor of Norwich, 
a gentleman distinguished for great talents and learn- 
ing, published " A Key to the Romans" a work design- 
ed to illustrate the doctrines of the apostle Paul, 
but which was unhappily more than slightly tinged 
with Unitarian errors. This fact will explain a pas- 
sage in the foregoing letter, written to a minister who 
resided in the same city. 

We may add here, that Dr. Taylor was at one 
period a tutor of a small dissenting college at War- 
rington, and once expressed his surprise that many 
of his students became Deists; so little did he seem 
aware of the natural tendency of his own views. 
It is said that he once observed that if what are 
termed the doctrines of grace were in the epistle to 
the Romans, it was remarkable he could not see them 
there ; on which the excellent John Newton remarked 
to him. "I am not surprised at this. I once went to 
light my candle with the extinguisher on it. It is not 
enough that you bring the candle, you must remove 
the extinguisher. 77 Some of the errors of Dr. Taylor 
were very strenuously and successfully opposed by 
the elder President Edwards, as may be seen in his 
works. 



182 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

To the Rev. John Wesley. 

" Northampton, July 29, 1746. 

"I am truly glad that the long letter I last sent 
you was agreeable to you. I bless God that my prej- 
udices against the writers of the Establishment were 
so early removed. And I rejoice greatly when I see 
that prejudices against their brethren of any denom- 
ination are likewise subsided in those whom, upon 
other accounts, I most highly esteem as the excellent 
of the earth, and that we are coming nearer to the 
harmony in which I hope we shall ever be one in 
Christ Jesus. 

" I have always esteemed it to be the truest act of 
friendship, to use our mutual endeavors to render the 
characters of each other as blameless and as valuable 
as possible ; and I have never felt a more affectionate 
sense of my obligations, than when those worthy persons 
who have honored me with their affection and corre- 
spondence, have freely told me what they thought 
amiss in my temper and conduct. This therefore, 
dear sir, is an office you might reasonably expect 
from me if I had for some time enjoyed an intimate 
knowledge of you. But it has always been a maxim 
with me not to believe any flying story to the prej- 
udice of those whom I had apparent reason, from 
what I knew of them, to esteem ; and consequently as 
I should never make this a foundation, you must be 
contented to wait longer before you receive that office 
of paternal love which you ask. 

"Your caution has suggested a thought to me, 
whether it be modest to call ourselves humble. If 



PASTORATE AT NORTHAMPTON. 183 

the expression means a real readiness to serve in love 
in any thing low, as in washing the feet of another, I 
hope I can say, 'I am your humble servant;' but if it 
mean one who is in all respects as humble as he 
could wish, God forbid I should arrogate so proud a 
title. In what can I say I have already attained? 
only, in that I love my divine Master, and would not 
have a thought in my heart that He should disap- 
prove. I feel a sweetness in being assuredly in his 
gracious hand, which all the world cannot possibly 
afford ; and which I really think would make me 
happier in a dark dungeon, than ten thousand worlds 
could render me without it; and therefore I love 
every creature on the earth that bears his image ; 
and I do not except those who, through ignorance, 
rashness, or prejudice, have greatly injured me." 

From the Rev. John Jones. 

"January 25, 1736. 

"The first thing I have to say to you is, that I 
thank you most cordially for your late most friendly 
visit, which delighted, exhilarated, and improved me 
more than any which I have received for some time. 
But do not think I can be content with having thank- 
ed you once for your visit. No, I must thank you 
again ; and when I have done all, the gratitude of my 
heart will still remain unexpressed; for, believe me, 
my friend, nothing can exhibit the sweet joy I felt 
within me while you were with me, and which I feel 
on every remembrance of the entertainment which 
your society gave me. But would you believe it, sir, 
even when you left me I was also in joy : not be- 
cause you were gone, for I should delight to dwell 



184 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

with you for ever ; and I hope one day I shall dwell 
with you, without the fear of a separation. Was it 
because you gave me hopes of seeing you soon again ? 
No, though I earnestly wish it had been so ; and yet 
you did not leave me without giving me some encour- 
agement of the kind. But what made me continue in 
so joyful a mood after you had left me? Well, I will 
leave a friend to judge of the affections of a friend 
by his own. There could be no other cause than the 
delight inspired by your conversation, whereby you 
raised new sentiments in my soul, and infused into it 
an unknown sweetness ; and that in so powerful a 
manner as to make it impossible that the impression 
should immediately wear off, and I trust that it never 
will. I have on other occasions frequently found my- 
self in a situation much less agreeable, when my friends 
have left me, or on my leaving them; for a sudden 
damp hath sometimes seized my mind when we part- 
ed: but when Dr. Doddridge left me, I was almost 
surprised as much as I was pleased, to find a con- 
tinuance of that satisfaction which I expected would 
vanish with his departure. my dear friend, there 
is surely something divine in the presence and con- 
versation of a good man, which leaves behind it a 
sweet and lasting energy. And I humbly hope that 
the divinity, in one sense, was with us, and in us, 
while we conversed together, and will still continue 
to enliven us while we are absent from each other; 
but let not that absence continue long, for you have 
left other friends here besides me, who will be glad 
to see you, and to improve by your Christian conver- 
sation whenever you can come. 



PASTORATE AT NORTHAMPTON. 185 

" Tell Mr. Jennings I heartily thank him for his 
visit, and the more for its being in company with his 
tutor. May God prosper him when he enters upon 
his ministry, and make him an instrument towards 
rooting out bigotry in a divided people; for there 
are those on both sides in that town who, I have rea- 
son to believe, have not yet attained to a full measure 
of the Christian spirit. Will he labor, under God, to 
introduce it? Will he show a meek disposition by 
an attractive behavior? If I am not mistaken in him, 
he will. He seems to promise so much. Nor can I 
think that any who have had their education under 
you, will do otherwise. May the same good spirit 
which I find in my friend, animate the breast of all 
who are under his care, and may they diffuse Chris- 
tian sentiments, and promote a Christian practice, 
wherever they go. May schism and division, and the 
alienation of hearts, vanish from henceforth. May 
universal amity prevail, and truth for ever triumph 
over error, in men of all persuasions. What Chris- 
tian heart can refuse joining with me in these senti- 
ments and prayers?" 

Dr. Doddridge seems to have possessed in a won- 
derful degree the happy art of administering reproof 
in a gentle but effectual manner to persons in high 
life, a service of true friendship requiring equal tact 
and resolution. He attained his object usually by 
noticing some good quality in them, while he referred 
to their irregularities. A fine example is furnished 
in the next letter. 



186 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 



To Sir John R- 



" Northampton, Dec. 8, 1742. 

"Dear Sir John — Permit me frankly to speak my 
mind to you on a head on which I fear to be silent, 
lest I should fail in gratitude to a gentleman to whom 
I think myself much obliged, and whom I would glad- 
ly serve to the best of my ability. 

"Be not angry when I tell you I was heartily 
grieved at the liberties you took last night in using 
the venerable name of the ever blessed God in so 
light a manner ; and in the needless appeals which 
you made to Him as to matters which would have 
been believed on much less evidence than the word of 
Sir John R n. 

"I have not for some years heard so much lan- 
guage of that kind, except when passing by people of 
low education in the streets ; whether it be owing 
to the complaisance with which gentlemen commonly 
treat our profession, or, as I rather hope, to a sense 
of what is in itself reasonable and decent. 

"I am sure, sir, that your knowledge of men and 
things is capable of making conversation pleasant and 
improving, without those dreadful expletives; for 
dreadful I must call them, when considered in a view 
to that strict account which must so certainly and so 
quickly be rendered up to God, for all our words as 
well as our actions. 

"I was the more solicitous, sir, to mention the 
affair to you, in consideration of your office as a mag- 
istrate ; the dignity of which would certainly be most 
effectually supported by avoiding whatever it might 
require you to punish in others. In this view, per- 



PASTORATE AT NORTHAMPTON. 18f 

mit me to entreat you to join your efforts with those* 
of all other wise and good men to discountenance, 
and, if possible, to drive out of the world this unprof- 
itable enormity of swearing in common conversation ; 
concerning the evil of which I am sure it is not neces- 
sary to enlarge, when addressing myself to a gentle- 
man of your understanding. 

"I conclude, sir, with my most affectionate good 
wishes and prayers for you, that the whole of your 
conduct, in every circumstance of life, may be such as 
will yield the most pleasing reflections in the awful 
hour of death, and the most comfortable account be- 
fore that divine tribunal to which we are all hasten- 
ing ; and in the serious expectation of which, I have 
presumed to give you this trouble, hoping that you 
will esteem it, as it undoubtedly is, a proof that I am, 
with great sincerity, 

" Your most faithful and obedient servant, 

"PHILIP DODDRIDGE." 

Dr. Doddridge's diary contains the following en- 
try in reference to the above letter: "I thought it 

more respectful to write to Sir John R n on this 

occasion, than to speak to him before the company ; 
but it is a law I lay down to myself to do the one or 
the other, lest I should seem too indifferent to the 
honor of God, and the good of my friends, and of the 
world about them." 



188 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

CHAPTER IV. 

HIS MINISTRY AT NORTHAMPTON. 

Dr. James Hamilton has well said, that " to Eng- 
lish non-conformity Northampton is, or ought to be, 
a sort of Mecca. Three hundred years ago it gave 
birth to Robert Brown, the father of English Congre- 
gationalism ; and within the last generations,. North- 
ampton and its neighborhood have been a chief strong- 
hold of the English Baptists. It was here that the 
Rylands ministered : the elder, in his orthodox vehe- 
mence a Boanerges, in his tender feelings a ' beloved 
disciple ; ? the younger famous for his microscopic eyes, 
and who ought to have been famous for his telescopic 
heart ; for never was there spirit more catholic, or one 
who could espy goodness at a greater distance. It 
was in the adjacent town of Kettering that Andrew 
Fuller labored for thirty years ; in a noisy study, for 
it was withal a populous nursery, composing those 
volumes which have gone so far to give the right tone 
and attempering to modern Calvinism ; a deep digger 
in the Bible mine, and whose rich, though clumsy in- 
gots supply to the present day the mint of many a 
sermon-coiner. Himself too homely to be a popular 
preacher, and too unambitious to regret it, he was in 
contrivance resourceful, and in counsel sagacious ; the 
main-spring of each denominational movement, and 
one of the purest philanthropists, but blunt and un- 
gainly withal. And in Northampton and its sur- 



MINISTRY AT NORTHAMPTON. 189 

rounding villages a poor cobbler used to ply his 
craft — for Northampton is the Selkirk of the South — 
its citizens are sutors : and leaving at home his brok- 
en-hearted wife, poor cobbler Carey would hawk from 
door to door his shoes of supererogation to pay the 
funeral charges of his child. Under ague and rain, 
and the unsalable sackful, he was revolving that east- 
ern mission of which he was soon to be the father and 
founder, and from borrowed grammars acquiring those 
elements of polyglottal power which shortly devel- 
oped in the Briareus of oriental translation. 

" But our pilgrimage to Northampton was mainly 
impelled by veneration for another worthy, Philip 
Doddridge. We went to see the spot ennobled by the 
saintliest name in last century's dissenting ministry. 
We went to see the house where ' The Rise and Prog- 
ress' was written. We visited the old chapel, with its 
square windows and sombre walls, where so many fer- 
vent exhortations were once poured forth, and so much 
enduring good accomplished. We entered the pulpit 
where Doddridge used to preach, and the pew where 
Colonel Gardiner worshipped. We sat in the old 
arm-chair beside the vestry fire, and flanking the little 
table on which so many pages of that affecting diary 
were written. And with a view of a supposed orig- 
inal likeness in the study of our host — a minister of 
the same school with Doddridge — we finished our 
Northampton pilgrimage. ;; 

The first object of Dr. Doddridge's pursuit as a 
pastor, was to possess himself of an acquaintance with 
the families of his congregation. These being scat- 
tered in several neighboring villages, he held fre- 



190 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

quent interviews with his deacons and others, oj 
means of whom he learned the names, places of abode, 
character, and circumstances of his church-members 
and stated hearers. All information of this kind he 
recorded in a book, which he often consulted as a 
means of guiding him in his public and private ad- 
dresses, so as to render them most appropriate and 
useful. Even the names and character of the servants 
in the different families were not omitted ; and a min- 
ute was made of the exhortations he had given them 
and others, of the reception he had met with, of the 
promises they had made, and of their wants as to 
religious books, or of the supplies he had furnished. 
Thus he provided himself with materials for a histor- 
ical register of his congregation, and was enabled 
better to pray and to preach in adaptation to the 
particular wants of all the members of his congre- 
gation. 

" Previous to his coming to Northampton, when 
his congregations were small, and retired, he had ex- 
pended a large amount of time and care in the com- 
position of his sermons, and in the study of the Scrip- 
tures ; but now the demands of a large and scattered 
congregation, added to the exhausting labors of a 
theological instructor, obliged him to be less exact 
and elaborate in his pulpit preparations. Sometimes 
he wrote nothing more than the heads and principal 
thoughts of his sermons, and the texts of Scripture to 
be introduced; but so well furnished was his mind, 
so warm and devotional his temper of heart, and so 
ready his command of language and of thought, that 
even with this small amount of written preparation 



MINISTRY AT NORTHAMPTON. 1*1 

be was accustomed to preach with great acceptance. 
On special occasions, and" when, through bodily indis- 
position or the pressure of afflictive providences, he 
could not so well depend on extemporary effort, he 
reduced more fully his thoughts to writing." 

Rev. Dr. Kippis says, " I remember a remarkable 
instance of his power of extemporaneous speaking. 
Akenside the poet, being visited by some relations 
who were dissenters, came with them unexpectedly 
one Sunday morning to Dr. Doddridge's chapel. The 
subject he preached upon was a common orthodox 
topic, for which he had scarcely made any prepara- 
tion ; but he roused his faculties on the occasion, and 
spoke with such energy, variety, and eloquence, as 
excited my warmest admiration, and must have im- 
pressed Dr. Akenside with a high opinion of his 
abilities." 

His favorite topics were the grand doctrines and 
duties of the gospel, adapted, in the style of discussion, 
to the plainest minds in his audience. Dry criticisms, 
abstruse and metaphysical discussions, he never intro- 
duced into his discourses; nor did he deal in moral 
and philosophical essays. Controversial points were 
seldom discussed in the pulpit, those especially of 
which his congregation were ignorant; nor did he 
occupy precious time in the confutation of errors 
which they were in no danger of adopting. When 
his subject naturally led him to refer to writers from 
whom he differed in opinion, he spoke of them in re- 
spectful and candid terms, while he reverently made 
an appeal to the sacred Scriptures as the high and 
infallible standard of doctrine, and of duty, to which 



192 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

sentiment and conduct should be in all cases conform- 
ed. It was his practice tcT dwell upon the points in 
which all Christians are agreed, and not to magnify 
into undue importance the differences of opinion by 
which they are characterized. He abhorred all severe 
invectives in the pulpit against Christian brethren; 
and could not endure the display of any malignant or 
unkind feelings towards them-. 

Seldom did he preach topical sermons, having no 
relation to any particular text; but he constructed 
his sermons directly upon the text selected, from 
which, and its connection, and the design of the sacred 
writer, he often derived most happy and striking 
thoughts. When the full discussion of a subject re- 
quired more than one or two discourses, he generally 
selected a new text, affording fresh illustrations, and 
thus gaining the closer attention of the hearers, and 
promoting a larger acquaintance with the word of 
God itself. 

He indulged in a wide range of subjects selected 
from all parts of the Bible, historical, biographical, 
prophetical, as well as the doctrinal and practical. 
He would often comment upon passages from the 
prophets relating to the history of the Israelites, or 
of some good man among them, and apply them to 
the circumstances of Christians. He thus illustrated 
the design of the prophecies, the divine wisdom, 
grace, and faithfulness displayed in them, and the 
practical instructions which they were suited to im- 
part. By adopting occasionally this style of preach- 
ing, an agreeable and useful variety was given to his 
pulpit instructions. 



MINISTRY AT NORTHAMPTON. 193 

The popularity and usefulness of his sermons are 
to be attributed in no small degree to the simplicity 
of his style, and to the orderly arrangement of his 
thoughts. To borrow the language of the North 
British Review, "At a glance he saw every thing 
which could simplify his subject, and he had self- 
denial sufficient to forego those good things which 
would only encumber it. Hence, like his college lec- 
tures, his sermons were continuous and straightfor- 
ward, and his hearers had the comfort of accompany- 
ing him to a goal which they and he constantly kept 
in view. It was his plan not only to divide his dis- 
courses, but to enunciate the divisions again and 
again, till they were fully imprinted on the memory ; 
and although such a method would impart a fatal 
stiffness to many compositions, in his manipulation it 
only added clearness to his meaning, and precision to 
his proofs. Dr. Doddridge's was not the simplicity 
of happy illustration. In his writings you meet few 
of those apt allusions which play over every line of 
Bunyan, like the slant beams of evening on the wink- 
ing lids of the ocean; nor can you gather out of his 
writings such anecdotes as, like garnets in some High- 
land mountain, sparkle in every page of Brooks and 
Plavel. Nor was it the simplicity of homely lan- 
guage. It was not the terse and self-commending 
Saxon, of which Latimer in one age, and Swift in 
another, and Cobbett in our own, have been the 
mighty masters, and through it the masters of their 
English fellows. But it was the simplicity of clear 
conception and orderly arrangement. A text or topic 
may be compared to a goodly apartment still empty ; 

Doddridge. 9 



194 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

and which will be very differently garnished accord- 
ing as you move into it piece by piece the furniture 
from a similar chamber, or pour in pell-mell the con- 
tents of a lumber attic. Most minds can appreciate 
order, and to the majority of hearers it is a greater 
treat than ministers always imagine, to get some ob- 
scure matter made plain, or some confused subject 
cleared up. With this treat Doddridge's readers and 
hearers were constantly indulged. Whether they 
were things new or old, from the orderly compart- 
ments of his memory he fetched the argument or the 
quotation which the moment wanted. He knew his 
own mind, and told it in his own way, and was always 
natural, arresting, instructive. And even if, in giving 
them forth, they should cancel the ticket-marks — the 
numerals by which they identify and arrange their 
own materials — authors and orators who wish to con- 
vince and to edify, must strive in the first place to be 
orderly." 

In the application of his sermons he was distin- 
guished by an affectionate warmth and energy of man- 
ner; in matter he described accurately and experi- 
mentally the workings of the heart, in the circum- 
stances to which the subject of the discourse referred. 
His preaching thus differed widely from that cold and 
philosophical style at that time too prevalent in Eng- 
land. " While I have any reverence for Scripture, 
or any knowledge of human nature," remarks he, " I 
shall never affect to speak of the glories of Christ, 
and of the eternal interests of men, as coldly as if I 
were reading a lecture of mathematics, or relating an 
experiment in natural philosophy. It is indeed un- 



MINISTRY AT NORTHAMPTON. 195 

worthy of the character of a man and a Christian to 
endeavor to transport men's passions while the under- 
standing is left uninformed, and the judgment uncon- 
vinced. But so far as is consistent with a proper 
regard to this leading power of our nature, I would 
speak and write of divine truths with a holy fervency. 
Nor can I imagine that it would bode well to the 
interest of religion to endeavor to lay all those pas- 
sions asleep which surely God implanted in our hearts 
to serve the religious, as well as the civil life, and 
which, after all, will probably be employed to some 
very excellent or very pernicious purposes." 

The Rev. Dr. Richard Newton, writing to Dod- 
dridge, Jan. 20, 1744, says, " Bishop Burnett, in the 
1 History of his Times/ speaking of Nairn, observes, 
that he considered the pastoral function as a dedica- 
tion of the whole man to God and his service; and 
whoever reads your discourse on the ' Evil and Dan- 
ger of Neglecting the Souls of Men/ will, I think, be 
convinced that you are of the same opinion." 

" He that winneth souls is wise/ 7 and in the words 
of the North British Review, " this winsomeness was 
Doddridge's main wisdom. There was something in 
his temper and affections more evangelical than even 
in his theology. His remonstrances were compas- 
sionate; his reproofs regretful amid their faithful- 
ness; his warnings all the more solemn because of 
their evident sympathy ; and his exhortations encour- 
aging and alluring from the benevolent hopefulness 
with which they were freighted. 

"Like an honest man and a real orator, in his 
sermons his first object was to be understood, and 



196 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

therefore his language was plain and unambitious. 
But he wished to be understood only because he wish- 
ed to be felt, and therefore from the very outset of 
his discourse there was a perceptible glow of benevo- 
lence and desirousness, which, towards the close, kin- 
dled into the most fervent remonstrance and entreaty. 
And while, owing to the pellucid clearness of his own 
mind, his meaning was always manifest, and while, 
owing to his logical habits of arrangement, his most 
hurried compositions were always coherent and in- 
structive, the least enlightened hearer, if he missed 
the ingenious exposition, or the elaborate argument, 
could hardly miss the contagion of the preacher's 
earnestness. And surely that sermon is the best 
which remains not so much a deposit in the memory 
as a solution through the feelings, and which is re- 
called, not by some pithy remark, or pretty figure, 
but by the consciousness that some sin was then de- 
tected, some holy impulse imparted, some new majesty 
or endearment thrown around the person of the Sav- 
iour. Within the compass of English literature, 
scores of sermons might be quoted, more ingenious, 
and more eloquent, but not many which more enchain 
the reader when he has once begun to peruse them, 
and not many which in their original delivery made 
deeper and more enduring impressions — impressions 
in despite of an unmelodious voice and a nervous 
excess of action, and which included all classes of his 
Northampton hearers, from boors who could not read 
the alphabet up to Akenside the poet." 

He was accustomed in his preaching to derive 
lessons of instruction from the providence of God, 



MINISTRY AT NORTHAMPTON. 197 

calling public attention to remarkable occurrences 
affecting the nation, the community, or families in his 
congregation. He referred to any uncommon phe- 
nomena in nature, or other events that had attracted 
public notice. He discoursed upon events connected 
with the seasons of the year, and especially the boun- 
ties of the season of harvest, conveying sundry lessons 
of wisdom and piety. He abounded in funeral-ser- 
mons, delivering them for the greater part of such as 
died in communion with his church, not excluding 
even the poorest among them ; and for other persons 
also, when, in the circumstances of their death or 
character, there was any thing of peculiar interest. 
He conceived such seasons of adversity favorable to 
success in preaching the gospel to the afflicted and 
their friends. 

When health allowed, he preached twice on the 
Sabbath; and if the services of one part of the day 
were performed at any time by one of his senior 
pupils who had entered the ministry, he did not spare 
himself on that account, but often preached in the 
evening. His published discourses on Regeneration, 
and on Popery, were preached on such occasions. 
When there was no public evening lecture, he repeat- 
ed his sermons to his own family, and to as many of 
his people and neighbors as desired to attend at his 
own house. On these occasions he sometimes added, 
for the benefit of his theological students, critical 
remarks on the texts discussed, and learned reflec- 
tions on the subject, not so well suited to a popular 
auditory. On Sabbath morning it was his usual 
custom, before sermon, to expound a portion of Scrip- 



198 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

ture, and deduce practical reflections, at the same 
time instructing his hearers how to read with profit, 
and to meditate on the word of God. His devotional 
exercises, and his method of administering the ordi- 
nances, are represented as uncommonly excellent and 
impressive. He possessed an extraordinary gift in 
prayer, having diligently cultivated a devotional and 
fervent spirit. At the Lord's table he endeavored to 
affect the hearts and strengthen the graces of the 
people of God by devout and practical meditations on 
some appropriate passage of Scripture : a large num- 
ber of these have been published, and add greatly to 
the author's deserved reputation for intelligence and 
piety. 

An occurrence after a sermon by Dr. Doddridge 
was so solemn and instructive, that we must not omit 
it. The sermon was on the Christian's calling, and 
the glorious hopes and prospects he had before him. 
After the close of the service, a man who had attend- 
ed it went up to the preacher, and thus addressed 
him : " You have given us an excellent and encourag- 
ing discourse ; but these privileges do not belong to 
me, nor shall I ever have the least interest in them. 77 
"What reason," asked the doctor, "have you for 
saying so ? Jesus is able to save to the uttermost. 77 
The man replied, u I will tell you my circumstances, 
and then you will not be surprised. I once made a 
profession of religion, which I supported with great 
regularity and decorum for several years. I was 
very strict in the performance of the duties required 
by Christianity. None could charge me with irregu- 
larity of conduct, or the neglect of positive commands j 



MINISTRY AT NORTHAMPTON. 199 

but in course of time my zeal declined, and I became 
careless in my conduct and intercourse with my friends 
and neighbors. I felt no satisfaction in the perform- 
ance of religious duties, and gradually ceased my 
observance of them. Instead of praying two or three 
times a day, I only prayed once ; the same with regard 
to family religion; and in time these sacred duties 
were entirely omitted. My external conduct was 
soon changed. Ungodly company and the gratifica- 
tion of sensual appetites became my enjoyments, and 
my conscience seldom made me uneasy as to the future 
state, which serious reflection would have made the 
source of pain. Soon after this change took place, I 
was left guardian to a young lady whose fortune was 
committed to my care; but I spent her money, and 
ruined her reputation. Still I felt how very far pref- 
erable was a virtuous life to a wicked one, and I was 
careful to instruct my children in the principles of 
religion. One evening, when I returned from my sinful 
engagements, I asked them my usual question, ' could 
they repeat their lesson. 7 'Yes/ said the youngest, 
'and I have a lesson for you too, papa. 7 She then 
read the text, l Because I have purged thee, and thou 
wast not purged, thou shalt not be purged from thy 
filthiness any more, till I have caused my fury to rest 
upon thee.' Ezek. 24 : 13. I considered this the seal 
of my doom, and I have now nothing but a fearful 
looking for of judgment." Truly has Solomon said, 
" The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own 
ways." Prov. 14 : 14. 

It is said that when he had finished the prepara- 
tion of a discourse, and while his heart was still glow- 



200 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

ing with the thoughts which the sermon embodied, it 
was his custom to throw some of these thoughts into 
a metrical form. The stanzas thus prepared were 
sung at the close of the service, and answered a two- 
fold purpose — that of devotion, and of aid to the 
remembrance of the sermon : thus, having preached on 
" The rest that remaineth for the people of God," it 
was followed by the now well-known hymn, 

" Thine earthly Sabbaths, Lord, we love ; 
But there 's a nobler rest above : 
To that our laboring souls aspire, 
With ardent pangs of strong desire, etc." 

So a sermon on 1 Peter 2 : 7, was epitomized in the 
hymn commencing with the stanza, 

" Jesus, I love thy charming name ; 
'T is music to mine ear : 
Fain would I sound it out so loud, 
That earth and heaven should hear." 

It has been beautifully remarked, " If amber is the 
gum of fossil trees fetched up and floated off by the 
ocean, hymns like these are a spiritual amber. Most 
of the sermons to which they originally pertained 
have disappeared for ever, but at once beautiful and 
buoyant, these sacred strains are destined to carry 
the devout emotions of Doddridge to every shore 
where his Master is loved, and where his mother- 
tongue is spoken." 

Besides the labors on the Sabbath already de- 
scribed, and a preparatory lecture before the sacra- 
ment, which was administered once a month, he con- 
ducted, every Friday evening, a religious exercise, at 
which he delivered a course of expository lectures on 



MINISTRY AT NORTHAMPTON. 201 

the Psalms; afterwards upon the Messianic prophe- 
cies of the Old Testament, followed by discourses on 
the promises of the Scriptures. Sometimes, by request 
of friends, he repeated on these occasions sermons that 
he had preached on the Sabbath. For several winters 
he preached a Thursday evening lecture in another 
portion of the town, at which he delivered a course 
of sermons on the parables of Christ, and another on 
the nature, offices, and operations of the Holy Spirit. 
As his congregation was scattered in their residences 
among the neighboring villages, he occasionally 
preached in each of those villages, making his visits 
at the usual festivals, or similar occasions, because 
the people had leisure to attend the religious ser- 
vices, and at the same time especially stood in need 
of such religious services to counteract surrounding 
temptations. At these times also he took occasion to 
visit aged and infirm persons who were seldom able 
to attend his regular services in town. When death 
occurred to any such, he preached their funeral-ser- 
mons in the villages where they had resided, in the 
hope of conferring saving benefits thereby upon sur- 
viving neighbors and acquaintances. 

A pleasant picture of the sacramental seasons just 
adverted to is given by Mr. Stoughton, who says, 
" On Sunday evening did the good people of Castle 
Hill, in those times, show forth their Lord's death, 
availing themselves of moonlight nights, for the con- 
venience of such as lived in the adjacent villages. 
One can picture them, their minds filled with the 
holy things their much-loved doctor had been saying, 
wending their way in rustic conveyances, or trudgings 

9* 



202 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

on foot through Northampton's silent streets, and the 
still more silent roads, looking up to the pale blue 
ocean sky, and the moon floating there with her silver 
sails, and her train of starry barks ; musing, perhaps, 
on the beautiful hymn in which their pastor has em- 
balmed the spirit of his discourse on ' God the ever- 
lasting Light of the Saints above :' 

"Ye golden lamps of heaven, farewell, 
With all your feeble light: 
Farewell, thou ever-changing moon, 
Pale empress of the night. 

" Ye stars are but the shining dust 
Of my divine abode, 
The pavement of those lovely courts 
Where I shall reign with God. 

" The Father of eternal light 

Shall there his beams display: 
Nor shall one moment's darkness mix 
With that unvaried day. 

" Where all the millions of his saints 
Shall in one song unite, 
And each the bliss of all shall view, 
With infinite delight." 

The feelings manifested by Dr. Doddridge in the 
discharge of his public duties were often so great as 
to have a considerable effect on his bodily frame. 
Speaking of his administration of the Lord's supper, 
on January 2, 1743, he writes in his diary, " When 
I came to break the bread, I was taken exceedingly 
ill, and rendered, by faintness and a pain in my stom- 
ach, in a great measure unfit to proceed. Indeed, I 
was not without some thoughts that I might have 
taken my flight from the table of Christ upon earth 



MINISTRY AT NORTHAMPTON. 203 

to his presence above. Cold clammy sweats were 
upon me; but if, as some said, a mortal paleness 
seemed fixed upon my cheek, I hope I can say that 
glory was in my soul. I revived a little, and felt an 
unutterable sweetness in singing the hymn on the 
word of good old Simeon, as rendered by dear Dr. 
Watts ; and I must say, that all the pleasure which I 
might have had, in a better state of health and spirits, 
in the after-part of the ordinance, was far overbal- 
anced by the unutterable delight which I enjoyed in 
consequence of being so interrupted. I cannot but 
think that it was in some measure owing to the great 
fervor of my spirit in the former duties of the day, 
that this failure now happened, and I humbly hope 
that I may say I was in some degree consumed with 
the love of God. Gracious Lord, I thank thee for 
the visitation, and for the support under it. I thank 
thee that I am thine, in life or in death. And I hum- 
bly renew the solemn dedication of myself unto thee, 
as in a holy tranquillity of soul, and undissembled 
readiness to be disposed of as thou pleasest in this 
world, or in a better." 

His preaching was highly popular and greatly 
esteemed. He had peculiar earnestness of manner, 
the result evidently of the deep impression which di- 
vine truth produced on his own mind and heart, and 
consequently he found it not difficult to arrest and to 
hold serious attention, and thus to produce strong 
impressions of the truth upon the hearts of his hear- 
ers. His style of elocution and of action was by some 
judged to be too vehement; but, suiting as it did 
his vivacity of temper and ordinary style of conversa- 



204 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

tion, it was in him perfectly natural, and of course 
impressive. 

The power of Doddridge as a preacher is satisfac- 
torily accounted for in the article from the North 
British Review to which we have before referred. 
Besides other things illustrative of this point, it pro- 
ceeds to say, " Much of the strength of Doddridge 
was his personal holiness. During the twenty years 
of his Northampton ministry, it was his endeavor to 
1 walk with God. ? And it is a spectacle at once hum- 
bling and animating to mark his progress, and to see 
how that divinely planted principle, which once strug- 
gled so feebly with frivolity and self-indulgence and 
the love of praise, had grown into ' a mighty tree.' 
Nor were his immediate hearers unaware of his per- 
sonal piety and his heavenly-mindedness. They knew 
how unselfish and disinterested he was ; how the hus-, 
band of an heiress, to whom he had been guardian, 
made him a handsome present as an acknowledgment 
for losses sustained by an over-scrupulous administra- 
tion of her property ; and how all the influence which 
he possessed with noble and powerful personages was 
exerted only on behalf of others. They knew his 
pious industry, and how the hardest worker and the 
earliest riser in all their town was the great doctor 
whom so many strangers came to see and hear. They 
knew his zeal for God, and how dear to him was 
every project which promised to spread His glory in 
the earth ; and how damping every incident by which 
he saw God's name dishonored. And in listening to 
him they all felt that he was a man of God. And his 
readers feel the same. They are constantly encoun- 



MINISTRY AT NORTHAMPTON. 205 

tering thoughts which they know instinctively could 
only have been fetched up from the depths of personal 
sanctity. The very texts which he quotes are evi- 
dently steeped in his own experience ; and unlike the 
second-hand truisms, the dried rose-leaves, with which 
so many are content, his thoughts have a dew still on 
them, like flowers fresh gathered in fields of holy med- 
itation. Even beyond his pathos there is something 
subduing in his goodness. 

" Yet we would not tell our entire belief unless we 
added the power of prayer. Some may remember the 
prayer at the commencement of the Rise and Progress. 
' Impute it not, God, as a culpable ambition, if I 
desire that this work may be completed and propa- 
gated far abroad ; that it may reach to those that are 
yet unborn, and teach them thy name and thy praise, 
when the author has long dwelt in the dust. But if 
this petition be too great to be granted to one who 
pretends no claim but thy sovereign grace, give him 
to be, in thy almighty hand, the blessed instrument 
of converting and saving one soul ; and if it be but 
one, and that the weakest and meanest, it shall be 
most thankfully accepted as a rich recompense for all 
the thought and labor this effort may cost.' And his 
secret supplications were in unison with this printed 
prayer. Besides other seasons of devotion, the first 
Monday of every month was spent in that ' solitary 
place/ his vestry; and, deducting the time employed 
in reviewing the past month, and laying plans for the 
new one, these seasons were spent in prayer and in 
communion with God. And none the less, for the 
accessory reasons already mentioned, is it our per- 



206 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

suasion that the success of his ministry, and the sin- 
gular good accomplished by his writings, are an 
answer to these prayers. The piety of Doddridge 
was as devout as it was benevolent ; and to his power 
with God he owed no small measure of his power 
with men." 

A letter of Mrs. Doddridge to the Rev. Samuel 
Clarke, in 1754, after the death of her husband, fur- 
nishes an instructive sketch of the spirit and manner 
of his excellent ministrations : 

" Nor does it give me less joy to hear you speak 
so highly of experimental preaching. It was often 
said by the ever dear deceased, that one sermon 
preached to the heart was worth ten to the under- 
standing. I think you will with pleasure read those 
sermons of my dear Mr. Doddridge which I am now 
getting transcribed. He formed his first plan of 
preaching, as I have often heard him with delight 
express, on this principle; and I cannot but think, 
considering the variety of subjects upon which they 
treat, as well as exhibiting a specimen of his general 
manner of preaching, many of them would be very 
acceptable to the public, and possibly would be more 
useful than those which have been so long published. 
I was glad I had the power of putting the transcript 
of one sermon into your hands. It was the first ser- 
mon my ever dear Mr. Doddridge preached after his 
recovery from that violent fever in 1745, in which no 
person expected his life — the title, 'Paul given back to 
the Church in answer to the Prayers of his Christian 
Friends. 7 A second Paul was given back, and I must 
esteem it a great mercy, as I know not how his place 



MINISTRY AT NORTHAMPTON. 207 

could have been supplied. You see almost in every 
page the heart of the dear author ; and mine can ac- 
company him, and add many others from the recol- 
lection of many things which my eyes saw and ears 
heard, who was so often a witness to his lively faith 
and zeal for the glory of his God and the salvation of 
souls, particularly those in a more immediate manner 
committed to his charge, taking every opportunity in 
season and out of season, making use of every occur- 
rence, whether of a public or private nature, to lead 
on their meditation from one Sabbath to another, and 
endeavoring to lead on their minds to the grand con- 
cerns of their own salvation: you will here find the 
kindness of his heart, and the overflowing benevo- 
lence, which did not stop here, but ran more or less 
through all his conduct towards them, enforcing his 
sermons by a suitable life and conversation." 

Dr. Doddridge deserves honorable mention for 
his faithfulness in the exercise of Christian discipline, 
by which he separated from the church all such as 
brought by their conduct a reproach on their profes- 
sion, and hindered thereby the success of the gospel. 
When piety languished among his people, and conver- 
sions were rare, he zealously endeavored, by more 
earnest preaching and more fervent supplications, and 
by the appointment of days of fasting and of special 
prayer for the effusion of the Holy Ghost, to secure 
the gracious presence of God and an ingathering of 
souls into the Redeemer's kingdom. 

The pastorate of Dr. Doddridge was adorned and 
honored by his special care for the children and youth 
of his numerous charge. He delivered to them par- 



208 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

ticularly an annual sermon ; and often an appropriate 
sermon in the course of the year. He published a 
course of sermons on the education of children, and 
in his conversation sought their confidence and their 
early conversion to Christ. He deplored the general 
neglect of the catechism on the part of pastors and 
of parents, and to this neglect attributed in some de- 
gree the irregularities and the irreligious connections 
formed among the young. Accordingly, he regarded 
it as the most important duty devolving upon him as a 
pastor, to make the children and youth well versed in 
the catechism, attending to this work every summer, 
during the whole course of his ministry, although his 
other engagements were so peculiarly numerous and 
oppressive. While yet a young minister, he formed 
the excellent resolution, worthy of universal adoption 
by such, " I will often make it my humble prayer, that 
God would teach me to speak to children in such a 
manner as may make early impressions of religion on 
their hearts." 

His pious efforts in this direction are said to have 
been signally rewarded with success. Several of the 
catechumens, dying in childhood, exhibited such clear 
and discriminating views of truth, and such scriptural 
hopes of entering into the heavenly rest, as afforded 
unspeakable consolation to bereaved parents and other 
friends. He established and encouraged social pray- 
er-meetings among the young, and formed religious 
associations embracing various classes of persons, 
who met once a week for reading, religious discourse, 
and prayer ; and also entered into an arrangement to 
exercise over each other a vigilant care, and promote 



MINISTRY AT NORTHAMPTON. 209 

each other's progress in the Christian life. These 
associations were composed severally of persons of 
different ages. There was one of young men alone, 
with which some of his own students were connected, 
to whom he proposed weekly some practical question, 
an answer to which was returned the following week 
in writing. These communications he examined, com- 
bined, enlarged upon, and delivered on Friday even- 
ing, instead of the lecture or exposition to which we 
have already referred. He devoted special effort to 
persuade young persons giving evidence of piety to 
enter into communion with the church, and to obviate 
the objections which they might urge against such a 
measure. His views on this subject may be found in 
a sermon which he published under the title of " Re- 
ligious Youth invited to Early Communion." 

Dr. Doddridge not only exercised his holy inge- 
nuity in devising plans of usefulness among his own 
people, but borrowed them from others. Writing in 
February, 1741, to his friend Dr. Clarke of St. Al- 
bans, he says, " The wise and good hint you were 
pleased to give me, as to erecting little devotional 
societies among the young people, has, I bless God, 
been of singular use among us, and has, I hope, al- 
ready been in some measure effectual for the revival 
of religion here. For their sakes I preached two ser- 
mons the other day from Malachi 3 :17, 18; and may 
it, through the divine blessing, be a means of strength- 
ening their hands in God." 

If, however, this excellent man could borrow the 
germ or mustard-seed of his plans from his brethren, 
his talents and Christian zeal could cause them abun- 



210 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

dantiy to grow, so as to bless many other congrega- 
tions as well as his own. In October of this year he 
preached at a meeting of his neighboring brethren, 
held at Kettering, a most impressive sermon from 
Prov. 24:11, 12, on "the evil and danger of neglect- 
ing men's souls f and after the sermon, in a solemn 
conference, the whole subject was seriously consider- 
ed. In giving an account of this meeting to some of 
his ministering brethren in the counties of Norfolk 
and Suffolk, an interview with whom we have already 
referred to, he thus writes : 

"It seemed most agreeable to the deference due 
to the reverend assembly, to propose the scheme in 
the form of queries; on which the following resolu- 
tions were formed, nemine contradicente : 

" 1. That it may tend to the advancement of relig- 
ion, that the ministers of this association, if they have 
not very lately done it, should agree to preach one 
Lord's day on family religion, and another on secret 
prayer ; and that the time should be fixed, in humble 
hope that concurrent labors, connected with concur- 
rent petitions to the throne of grace, might produce 
some happy effect. 

" 2. That it is proper that pastoral visiting should 
be more solemnly attended to, and that greater care 
should be taken in personal inspection than has gen- 
erally been used. And that it may conduce to this 
good end, that each minister should take an exact 
survey of his flock, and note down the names of the 
heads of families, the children, the servants, and other 
single persons in his auditory, in order to keep proper 
memorandums concerning each ; that he may judge the 



MINISTRY AT NORTHAMPTON. 211 

better of the particulars of his duty with regard to 
every one ; and may observe how his visits, exhorta- 
tions, and admonitions correspond to their respective 
characters and circumstances. 

" 3. That consequent on this survey it will be 
proper as soon as possible, and henceforward at least 
once a year, to visit, if it be practicable, every head 
of a family under our ministerial care, with a solemn 
charge to attend to the business of religion in their 
hearts and houses, watching over their domestics in 
the fear of the Lord, we at the same time professing 
our readiness to give them all proper assistances for 
this purpose. 

" 4. That it will be highly expedient immediately, 
or as soon as may be, to set up the work of catechiz- 
ing in one form or another, and to keep to it statedly 
for one half of the year at least ; and that it is proba- 
ble future counsels may ripen some scheme for carry- 
ing on this work in a manner which may tend greatly 
to the propagation of real, vital, catholic Christianity 
in the rising generation. 

"5. That there is reason to apprehend there are 
in all our congregations some pious and valuable per- 
sons who live in a culpable neglect of the Lord's sup- 
per; and that it is our duty particularly to inform 
ourselves who they are, and to endeavor, by our pray- 
ers to God, and our serious address to them, to intro- 
duce them into communion; cautiously guarding 
against any thing in the methods of admission which 
may justly discourage sincere Christians of a tender 
and timorous temper. 

" 6. That it is to be feared there are some, in sev- 



212 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

eral of our communions at least, who behave in such a 
manner as to give just offence ; and that we may be in 
great danger of making ourselves partakers of other 
men's sins, if we do not animadvert upon them ; and 
that if they will not reform, or if the crime be noto- 
rious, we ought, in duty to God, and to them, and to 
all around us, solemnly to cut them off from our sacra- 
mental communion as a reproach to the church of 
Christ. 

" 7. That it may, on many accounts, be proper to 
advise our people to enter into little bands or soci- 
eties for religious discourse and prayer, each consist- 
ing of six or eight, to meet for these good purposes 
once in a week, or a fortnight, as may best suit their 
other engagements and affairs. 

u 8. That it might be advisable, if it can be done, 
to select out of each congregation under our care a 
small number of persons remarkable for experience, 
prudence, seriousness, humility, and zeal, to act as a 
stated council for promoting religion in the said soci- 
ety; and that it would be proper they should have 
some certain times of meeting with each other, and 
with the minister, to join their counsels and their 
prayers for the public good. 

" 9. That so far as we can judge, it might by the 
Divine blessing conduce to the advancement of these 
valuable ends, that neighboring ministers in one part 
of our land and another, especially in this county, 
should enter into associations to strengthen the hands 
of each other by united consultation and prayer ; and 
that meetings of ministers might, by some obvious 
regulations, be made more extensively useful than 



MINISTRY AT NORTHAMPTON. 213 

they often are ; in which view it was further proposed, 
with unanimous approbation, that these meetings 
should be held at certain periodical times ; that each 
member of the association should endeavor, if possi- 
ble, to be present, studying to order his affairs so as 
to guard against unnecessary hinderances ; that public 
worship should begin and end sooner than it com- 
monly has done on these occasions ; that each pastor 
preach at these assemblies in his turn ; that the min- 
ister of the place determine who shall be employed in 
prayer ; that after a moderate repast, to be managed 
with as little trouble and expense as may be, an hour 
or two in the afternoon be spent in religious confer- 
ence and prayer, and in taking into consideration, 
merely in friendly counsel, and without the least pre- 
tence to any right of authoritative decision, the con- 
cerns of any brother, or any society, which may be 
brought before us for our advice; and finally, that 
every member of this association shall consider it as 
an additional obligation upon him to endeavor to be, 
as far as he justly and honorably can, a friend and 
guardian to the reputation, comfort, and usefulness of 
all his brethren in the Christian ministry, near or 
remote, of whatever party and denomination. 

" 10. That it may be proper to enter into some 
further measures to regulate the admission of young 
persons into the ministry. The particulars here were 
referred to further consideration ; but so far as I can 
judge, the plan proposed will be pretty nearly this: 
that if any student within the compass of this associa- 
tion desires to be admitted as a preacher, he apply to 
the ministers at one of their periodical meetings, when, 



214 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

if they be in the general satisfied that he is a person 
of a fair character, in sacramental communion with a 
Christian society, and one who has gone through a 
regular course of preparatory studies, they will ap- 
point three of their number to examine more particu- 
larly into his acquaintance with and sense of the great 
doctrines of Christianity as delivered in the Scripture, 
and into the progress he has made in literature, the 
views with which he professes to undertake the minis- 
try, and in general his aptness to teach; in order to 
judging of which, it may be proper that a theological 
thesis be exhibited in Latin, and a popular sermon, 
composed by the candidate, be submitted to the peru- 
sal of the examiners ; that if they in their conscience 
believe that he is fit to be employed in the Christian 
ministry, they may give him a certificate of that 
approbation, which he may be desired to produce at 
the next general meeting, that his testimonial may be 
signed by all the associated ministers present, and he 
be solemnly recommended to God by prayer. 

" Thus, gentlemen, you have a view of the scheme 
as it now lies before us, except the last, not yet con- 
sidered among us, which was approved at Kettering, 
at the time above-mentioned. I will take leave to 
add one particular more, which has since occurred to 
my thoughts, and which I here submit to your con- 
sideration, and to that of my other reverend brethren 
into whose hands this may fall, especially those of 
our own association. 

"11. Query, whether something might not be done 
in most of our congregations towards assisting in the 
propagation of Christianity abroad, and spreading it 



MINISTRY AT NORTHAMPTON. 215 

in some of the darker parts of our own land. In 
pursuance of which, it is further proposed that we 
endeavor to engage as many pious people of our re- 
spective congregations as we can to enter themselves 
into a society, in which the members may engage 
themselves to some peculiar cares, assemblies, and 
contributions, with a regard to this great end." 

The ardent spirit of Doddridge was diffused, as 
we have already seen, among his congregation, and 
under his instructions about one hundred and fifty of 
them met and formed a society in conformity with the 
proposals we have already given, the rules of which 
may suggest, even now, lessons worthy of being well 
considered. 

" We, whose names are subscribed, being moved 
as we hope and trust by a real concern for the propa- 
gation of the kingdom of Christ in the world, have 
determined to form ourselves into a society for that 
end on the following terms : 

" 1. That we propose, as God shall enable us, to 
be daily putting up some earnest petitions to the 
throne of grace for the advancement of the gospel in 
the world, and for the success of all the faithful ser- 
vants of Christ who are engaged in the work of it, 
especially among the heathen nations. 

" 2. That we will assemble, at least four times a 
year, in our places of public worship, at such seasons 
as shall by mutual consent be appointed, to spend 
some time in solemn prayer together on this impor- 
tant account; and we hereby engage that we will, 
each of us, if we conveniently can, attend at such 



216 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

meetings, unless such circumstances happen as to lead 
us in our own consciences to conclude that it will be 
more acceptable in the sight of God that we should 
be employed in some other business elsewhere. 

" 3. We do hereby express our desire that some 
time may then be spent, if God give an opportunity, 
in reviewing those promises of Scripture which relate 
to the establishment of our Redeemer's kingdom in 
the world, that our faith may be supported, and our 
prayers quickened by the contemplation of them. 

" 4. It is also our desire that whatever important 
information relating to the progress of the gospel be 
received from the various parts of this kingdom, or 
from foreign lands, by any members of the society, 
may be communicated to us at our general quarterly 
meetings, and the rest of us make our request to our 
minister, that he will, where he can with convenience 
do it, keep up such correspondence, that we may be 
more capable of judging how far God answers our 
prayers, and those of his other servants, in this regard. 

" 5. We further engage, that on these days of 
general meeting every one of us will, as God shall be 
pleased to prosper us, contribute something, be it 
ever so little, towards carrying on this pious design, 
which shall be lodged in the hands of a treasurer, to 
be chosen at the first meeting, to be disposed of by 
him and four other trustees, then also to be appoint- 
ed in such manner as they shall judge most conven- 
ient, towards supporting the expense of sending mis- 
sionaries abroad, printing Bibles or other useful 
books in foreign languages, establishing schools for 
the instruction of the ignorant, and the like. 



MINISTRY AT NORTHAMPTON. 21T 

u 6. That the pastor for the time being, if one of 
the society, be always one of those trustees, and that 
four more be annually nominated by the society at 
the first meeting after New-year's-day, with the power 
of choosing their treasurer out of their own number ; 
and that the accounts of the former year be then laid 
before the society, or before a committee appointed, to 
examine them. 

" 7. That members, after the first meeting, be ad- 
mitted by the consent of the majority of the society 
present at some stated meeting; and that if any mem- 
ber think it proper to withdraw, he signify that pur- 
pose to the society, or to one of the trustees. 

" 8. That brief minutes be taken at every meeting 
of the business dispatched, the persons admitted, the 
contributions made at it, etc. 

11 To these rules we subscribe our hands, heartily 
praying that God may quicken us, and many others 
by our means, to greater zeal in this, and in every 
good word and work ; and that joining in spirit with 
all those who in one place or another are devoting 
their lives to the advancement of the gospel, we may 
another day partake of their joy." 

It is believed that the proceeds of this society 
were appropriated to the education and support of 
two missionary students to labor among the Indians 
of North America. 

Nor was the missionary spirit of Dr. Doddridge 
confined to his own denomination. We have before 
us a correspondence with the Rev. B. Ingham, then 
connected with those ardent friends of Christian mis- 

Doddridge. 1 Q 



218 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

sions, the Moravian brethren. Two short passages 
will interest the reader. Mr. Ingham writes from 
London to Dr. Doddridge, under date of August 6, 
1741., " I am to inform you that you are chosen to be 
a corresponding member of the Society for the Fur- 
therance of the Gospel. Before you expressed your 
desire to me I had already proposed you to the com- 
mittee, who all approved of you ; and after the meet- 
ing was over, when I mentioned you to the society, 
they all unanimously chose you without ballotting; 
so that when you are in London, you will not only 
have the liberty to hear the letters read, but also to 
meet the members about business, and further to be in 
the committee. The brethren will be glad to hear 
from you as often as you please, and they from time 
to time will send you some accounts of the transac- 
tions of the society." 

The doctor immediately replied from Northamp- 
ton, " I am thankful to the Society for the Further- 
ance of the Gospel for their readiness to admit so 
unworthy a member, and hope, as the Lord shall 
enable me, to approve myself cordially affectionate, 
though incapable of giving much assistance. 

"I did this day in our church meeting publicly 
report some important facts received from brother 
Hutton, and others, as to the success of our dear 
Moravian brethren, and their associates. We re- 
joiced in the Lord at the joyful tidings, and joined in 
recommending them to the grace of God. I hope 
Providence will enable me to be a little serviceable 
to this good design. I shall gladly continue to cor- 
respond with the society, and gladly hope to have 



MINISTRY AT NORTHAMPTON. 219 

< 

some good news from these parts ere long. In the 
mean time I humbly commend myself to your prayers 
and theirs. ;; 

In a postscript the doctor says, " I have looked 
over several of the letters with great pleasure, and 
heartily thank you for sending them. Glory be to 
Him who causes his gospel to triumph, and magnifies 
the riches of his grace in getting himself the victory 
by soldiers who out of weakness are made strong. 
If Christ raise to himself a seed among negroes and 
Hottentots, I will honor them beyond all the politest 
nations upon earth that obey not his glorious gospel." 

On the 18th of November following, Doddridge 
thus addressed Count Zinzendorf. " I am now project- 
ing a society for the propagation of the gospel in for- 
eign parts, which is a scheme and interest which lie 
very near my heart. All I can propose is, to get a 
few serious Christians to meet at certain times to 
pray for the success of those who are gone to carry it 
abroad; and to spend some time in discoursing on 
the chief promises which encourage our faith in that 
blessed event. 

"I hope God will incline us at such times to con- 
tribute something towards succoring the dear mis- 
sionaries ; which, if it happen, you will be sure to hear 
of us. I shall also continue to communicate to this 
society, when formed, the letters and papers I receive 
from you, and I hope God will quicken us by this 
means to unite ourselves more in spirit with you, and 
those who are enlisted in the army of our glorified, 
though once crucified Leader, 'whom having not 
seen we love.' Oh, may our hearts be filled with 



220 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

overflowing love to Him, and ardent zeal for his ser- 
vice. I would every hour remember the symbolum 
of our dear ama Christum. May you, dear sir, your 
dear and pious consort, and all my brethren and sis- 
ters of your society be filled with grace and joy, and 
be surrounded with every desirable blessing for time 
and eternity. 

" Adored be the God of all grace in Jesus his Son, 
we have great matter of praise here, several religious 
societies formed, many attentive to hear the gospel, 
several I hope savingly wrought upon, several prom- 
ising youths rising to the ministry, and several excel- 
lent Christians favored on sick or dying beds with 
such grace and joy in the Lord that many years have 
not equalled within my observation what I have seen 
of this kind within a few months. For all this join 
your praises with me, and favor me with a continued 
share in your prayers. w 

Doddridge's missionary zeal was well understood 
and appreciated throughout the whole circle of his 
friends. In February, 1745, the Eev. Dr. Ayscough, 
tutor to the royal family of England, thus wrote to 
him : "I have an affair now on my hands, which, when 
it is a little riper, I shall communicate to you, as I 
believe you will think it worth your notice and 
encouragement. It is a scheme for civilizing and 
converting the Indians at the back of New England 
by the assistance of a gentleman who has lived many 
years among them. If it succeeds, it will be attended 
with many advantages in a civil as well as in a relig- 
ious way. If it is to go on you shall hear further from 
me, and I will open it more fully to you." 



MINISTRY AT NORTHAMPTON. 221 

It ourfit also to be here stated that to the zeal of 
Dr. Doddridge is also to be chiefly attributed the 
establishment in London, in the year 1750, of " The 
Society for Promoting Religious Knowledge among 
the Poor," more frequently called " The Book Socie- 
ty," which still exists and prospers. 

Assuredly the missionary spirit of Dr. Doddridge 
did not decline while he lived. In June, 1751, a very 
few months before his decease, he preached before the 
Suffolk Association at Sudbury, and according to the 
testimony of the Rev. Isaac Tours, who was present, 
" After dinner the doctor proposed to the assembled 
ministers, perhaps fifteen or twenty, that an attempt 
should be made to engage the body of Protestant 
dissenters to unite in maintaining a missionary in 
America among the heathen Indians after the manner 
of our brethren in Scotland, who have long done it, 
and not without the smiles of heaven on their labor 
of love." No one dissented, but his removal from 
earth soon after this meeting prevented the attempt 
being made. 

When the engagements of Dr. Doddridge as a 
tutor and an author are considered, it is a matter of 
surprise that he should have gained time to perform 
a large amount of pastoral visitation. Few were the 
days in which he was not seen in the houses of the 
sick, the afflicted, and others, to converse with them 
respecting their spiritual concerns. He had no time 
for long, or formal, or unprofitable visits. He had 
acquired a happy capacity for turning conversation 
into a channel of religious profit, and for leaving 
behind him salutary impressions. Heads of families 



222 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

he faithfully admonished to make religion the chief 
concern of life, and to " command their children and 
household to keep the way of the Lord." He be- 
stowed the kindest regard upon children and servants, 
adapted his conversation to their capacities, gave 
them texts of Scripture to commit to memory, and 
placed books of practical piety in their hands to read. 
The houses of the poor he frequently visited, and in 
the most pleasing manner sought to promote their 
temporal and spiritual welfare. It is said that no 
visits were performed with greater satisfaction than 
those which he made to the poor ; and that he often 
expressed wonder and grief that any minister should 
neglect such persons out of too much regard to the 
wealthy, or to any studies not essential to usefulness. 

The common occurrences of life are most illustra- 
tive of character. Calling one day on a member of 
his church, who was a tanner, and who was busily 
engaged drawing the skins out of the vats, the doctor 
gently tapped his friend on the shoulder, who turned 
round in surprise, and said, "Sir, I am ashamed, that 
you should find me thus employed." The good pastor 
replied, " Let my Master, when he cometh, find me so 
doing." " What," said the good man, " doing thus ?" 
" Yes," said the doctor, " faithfully performing the 
duties of my station." 

A fact occurred in 1741 which strikingly illus- 
trates the importance of caution in judging alike of 
the providence of God and of the character of man. 
At the Northampton assizes a man named Connell 
was tried for a murder committed two years before. 
Dr. Doddridge was present, and afterwards wrote to 



MINISTRY AT NORTHAMPTON. 223 

Dr. Clarke, " In the discovery of this crime there was 
so remarkable a hand of Providence that I could not 
but adore the singular interposition of that God who 
brings to light the hidden things of darkness, and 
exercises so conspicuous a power over the consciences 
of the most abandoned sinners." Connell was ad- 
judged guilty, and condemned to die on an early day, 
and Doddridge visited him in prison. He found the 
prisoner self-collected, with but little hope of life, but 
anxious that his memory might be relieved from unde- 
served reproach. A most rigid scrutiny was instituted 
a^t great trouble and expense by Doddridge and his 
friends, and facts beyond all possible contradiction on 
the evidence of five credible persons, showed that he 
was at a distance of a hundred and twenty miles 
when the murder was committed. It was found how- 
ever impossible to stay the execution, and the poor 
creature, guilty of other sad crimes, but innocent 
of this, died on the gallows. Doddridge writes, 
" Among other things I remember he said, ' Every 
drop of my blood thanks you, for you have had com- 
passion on every drop of it. 7 He wished he might, 
before he died, have leave to kneel at the threshold 
of my door to pray for me and mine ; which indeed 
he did on his knees in the most earnest manner, as 
he was taken out to be executed. ' You, 7 said he, 
1 are my redeemer in one sense, (a poor impotent re- 
deemer !) and you have a right to me. If I live I am 
your property, and I will be a faithful subject. 7 The 
manner in which he spoke of what he promised him- 
self from my friendship, if he had been spared, was 
exceedingly natural and touching. 77 



224 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

It could not be expected that the sanctified mind 
of Doddridge would allow such facts as these to pass 
before him without deriving from them important les- 
sons ; hence he adds to what we have already extract- 
ed, " Upon the whole I never passed through a more 
striking scene. I desire it may teach me the follow- 
ing lessons : 

"1. To adore the awful justice of God in causing 
this unhappy creature thus infamously to fall by her 
with whom he had so scandalously sinned, to the ruin 
of a very loving and virtuous wife. Thus God made 
his own law effectual that the adulterer should die. 

" 2. To acknowledge the depths of the divine 
counsels, which in this affair, when I think on all the 
circumstances of it, are impenetrable. 

" 3. To continue resolute in well-doing, though I 
should be, as in this instance I have been, reproached 
and reviled for it. Some have said that I am an Irish 
papist ; others have used very contemptuous language, 
and thrown out base censures for my interposing in 
this affair, though I am in my conscience persuaded 
that to have neglected that interposition, in the view 
I then had of things, would have been the most crim- 
inal part in my whole life. 

"4. May I not learn from it gratitude to Him 
who hath redeemed and delivered me? In which, 
alas, how far short do I fall of this poor creature. 
How eagerly did he receive the news of a reprieve 
for a few days. How tenderly did he express his 
gratitude : that he should be mine ; that I might do 
what I pleased with him: that I had bought him; 
spoke of the delight with which he should see and 



MINISTRY AT NORTHAMPTON. 225 

serve me ; that he would come once a year from one 
end of the kingdom to the other to see and thank me, 
and should be glad never to go out of my sight. Oh 
why do not our hearts overflow with such sentiments 
on an occasion infinitely greater ? We were all dead 
men. Execution would soon have been done upon 
us j but Christ 'hath redeemed us to God by his 
blood/ We are not merely reprieved, but pardoned ; 
not merely pardoned, but adopted; made heirs of 
eternal glory, and near the borders of it. In conse- 
quence of all this, we are not our own, but ' bought 
with a price.' May we ' glorify God in our bodies 
and spirits, which are his.' n 

Among Dr. Doddridge's letters we find one ad- 
dressed to Mr. Williams of Kidderminster, in which 
we have from his own hand a concise and modest 
statement of the manner in which he had discharged 
his pastoral duties. It is desirable to preserve his 
own account of this matter ; and it will be read with 
interest. It was written near the close of his faithful 
ministry. 

To Mr. Williams of Kidderminster. 

" Northampton, Dec. 15, 1748. 
"I thank you heartily for your kind and truly 
friendly letter, which I perused with deep attention, 
and have been sincerely asking myself the question 
you so properly suggest, and I will as freely tell you 
the result of that examination. I cannot, and dare 
not vindicate myself with regard to them all, nor 
absolutely as to any one of them. And yet my con- 
Science testifies, in the sight of God, if the prejudices 

10* 



226 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

of self-love do not impose upon me, that with regard 
to most of the things you refer to, I have in some 
degree endeavored to discharge my duty to the souls 
under my care. 

" I know nothing in the world I ha^f e desired so 
much as 'the glory of God and the conversion of 
souls/ in the prosecution of my ministry. I have 
been ' looking up to God ' I hope sincerely, though I 
confess not so fervently and constantly and humbly 
as I ought, ' to direct me in the choice of subjects, and 
in the method of handling them; 7 and perhaps you 
could hardly name a man living who 'has less studied 
the artifices or excellences of style in his composi- 
tions for the pulpit.' I did indeed in my younger 
years study the English language with great care, 
and I have reason to believe that it was under a secret 
direction of Providence that I did so, considering the 
number of writings which, very contrary to my expec- 
tation, I have been led to publish. But I have rather 
been chargeable with negligence than with an excess 
of accuracy in tlie style of my sermons, sometimes 
having hardly written for many months one complete 
sentence for the pulpit. ' As for a weakness and Tear 
and much trembling, joined with demonstration of 
spirit and power/ I question whether they do not 
rather refer to something peculiar to the apostles; 
though to be sure there is a sense in which we declare 
1 the testimony of God/ yet not just the same with that 
in which St. Paul spoke, who there undoubtedly refers 
to inspiration on the one hend, and probably to an 
impediment in his speech on the other. I have often, 
1 in as melting a manner as I could, and as knowing 



MINISTRY AT NORTHAMPTON. 221 

the terrors of the Lord, entreated my hearers to be 
reconciled to God/ and perhaps few preachers have 
abounded more in addresses of that kind. ' Nor have 
I ever knowingly and deliberately kept back from 
them any thing which I considered as the counsel of 
God to them ;' though I have indeed in many instances 
waived controversies from principles of conscience, 
and not either of indolence, or of cowardice, if I have 
known my own heart. But I freely own I have not 
1 warned from house to house with a zeal and tender- 
ness' like that which I could wish; though many 
houses, and I suppose I might add, many scores of 
houses, have been witness to tears of tenderness with 
which I have at different times admonished or entreat- 
ed particular persons. But here I think has been my 
greatest defect, that there are many whom I have not 
so warned, and that there have been many days, and 
some weeks, in which I have done very little this way ; 
and though I believe I have done much more that way 
than most ministers do — I speak not, however, of such 
as Mr. Fawcett and Mr. Darracott — yet I believe in 
my conscience I have done much less than my duty 
required, and I desire to be humbled before God on 
that account. I have ' labored most earnestly to pro- 
cure their assembling frequently for the purpose of 
prayer and general edification ; ? but I am sorry to say 
there are few instances in which I have prevailed, 
though I believe we have three or four societies of 
this kind, consisting perhaps in all of about thirty 
persons, perhaps more. If in your next inquiry you 
refer to the children, I have been careful in catechiz- 
ing them, assigning some part of more than half the 



228 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

weeks in the year to this care, either public or pri- 
vate, ' in the plainest manner I possibly could/ and 
this ' with earnest prayer for, and humble dependence 
on the grace and Spirit of Christ, to add efficacy to 
such endeavors. 7 All this I write as I would with a 
dying hand, and as if my life were to end with my 
letter. But as to your last query, I frankly acknow- 
ledge, again, that I have not spent ' three hours in a 
week/ nor two, if you except the persons of my own 
family, in treating personally with souls as to their 
spiritual concerns : the cases of the sick also excepted, 
for that included, I have spent much more. 

" On the whole, therefore, the view I have of the 
matter is this, that the multitude of necessary busi- 
ness as a tutor, added to that as a writer, and above 
all, my business as a correspondent, in the multitude 
of letters which I have had to write, often more than 
twenty in a week, and some of them large, together 
with those critical researches which have been neces- 
sary to furnish out my Family Expositor, a work 
which I verily believe may be of great importance for 
the service of the church, has taken me off too much 
from the immediate care of souls in private, and has 
often prevented my spending so much time in secret 
devotion as I should otherwise have done. x And I 
believe that God, by the present uncomfortable situa- 
tion of our affairs, has rebuked me for not having used 
greater care and resolution in redeeming my time for 
this purpose. For this I desire to be humbled before 
him; and indeed I see his hand stretched out in a 
remarkable degree, for since the year 1741 I find 
more than four hundred persons belonging to our 



MINISTRY AT NORTHAMPTON. 229 

congregation have been removed. Several of these 
have been numerous families transplanted by Provi- 
dence into other places, and several of these were 
excellent persons, and persons to whom as a minister 
I was remarkably dear, and very useful. Many oth- 
ers have been taken away by death, and, which was 
particularly affecting, several of them young persons, 
who had been wrought upon by my ministry but a 
little before, and promised considerable usefulness in 
their place. The number of those who have deserted 
my ministry totally, though continuing in town, has 
been comparatively but small. 

" I have met with some encouragement, though I 
find my courage and zeal very deficient, especially 
when I ought to go to such as I have reason to fear 
are unconverted, which are very far from being the 
greater part of the auditory, and pleading with them 
as I ought. I fear there are several families in which 
prayer is neglected ; and I am engaged by promise, at 
the beginning of the year, to write a letter to a head 
of a family upon that occasion, which is to be printed, 
and translated immediately into Dutch, and probably 
into French too, so that many thousands of it, one way 
and another, will soon be circulated. I desire your par- 
ticular prayers for me, and those of Mr. Fawcett, and 
your praying society in this view. I shall be glad of 
a letter from my good friend Mr. Fawcett, to whom I 
consider myself as here writing, containing an account 
of his present success, for which I shall glorify God, 
as I often pray very expressly for it; and I shall be 
glad both of his advice and yours in the present cir- 
cumstances of affairs, which I have let you into as 



230 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

plainly as possible. I must add one thing, which is 
that I have a secret hope that these many discourag- 
ing circumstances have of late occurred partly to 
awaken my spirit to greater zeal in labor and ferven- 
cy in prayer, and partly to make the hand of God the 
more remarkable in reviving our Sion in its low state ; 
and as it has been very apparent, from many circum- 
stances in my public ministrations and private converse 
of late, that I am under peculiar dejection — as some 
think more than I ought to be — this I think will stir 
up the zeal of some of my brethren, and in that re- 
spect may, I humbly hope, be a means of good." 

Of Mr. Williams it seems proper to give the read- 
er a few additional facts. At a period when error 
and religious formality so much abounded, it is pleas- 
ant to contemplate such a character as he presented. 
He eminently " walked with God," benefited the 
church by his ardent devotion, and commanded the 
respect of general society by his stern integrity. He 
was a manufacturer, and much of his time was spent 
in travelling in the discharge of his mercantile duties, 
and in this manner he became acquainted with many 
ministers, and other eminent Christians. Mourning 
over the decline of vital piety, and the declension of not 
a few ministers from the truth, he wrote a pamphlet in 
which he traced these evils to this origin : a departure 
from the simplicity of Christianity ; which was revised 
by Dr. Watts, and published in 1740. He hailed 
with holy joy the visits of Whitefield, Wesley, and 
other kindred minds to his native town, and exulted 
in their success. Well does Wesley say of him in his 



MINISTRY AT NORTHAMPTON. 231 

" Journal," " I know not of what denomination he is, 
nor is it material, for he has the mind which was in 
Christ." His efforts to secure the pastorate of the 
church of which he was a member for the excellent 
Fawcett we shall speak of elsewhere. 

The occasion of the above letter to Mr. Williams is 
disclosed in part in one of Dr. Doddridge to the Rev. 
Samuel Clarke, March 1, 1749. " The letter which I 
sent you from Mr. Williams was occasioned by one of 
mine to good Mr. Fawcett of Wellington, which I 
wrote under some discouragements that I met with at 
my return from London, by five of our members join- 
ing the Moravians, who have left their places at the 
Lord's table ; and have, most of them, entirely with- 
drawn, as another of our members has done, who is 
gone to College Lane. So very few had been admit- 
ted to the Lord's table for many months, and so many 
breaches had been made by deaths and removals, that 
it struck me very much ; and the great regard I have 
for the prayers of Mr. Darracott and Mr. Pearsall, 
of whose great success in their ministry I had just 
heard, engaged me to open myself so much the more 
freely to them ; nor did the plainness which Mr. Will- 
iams used with me on this occasion displease me. I 
bless God I have had some encouragement of late, 
which in some measure balances these complaints, 
and would by no means deny the reason I have al- 
ways had to bless God on account of several of my 
people, in whom there is as much of the power of 
religion as I have anywhere known in such circum- 
stances of life ; and it was plain to me that Mr. Will- 
iams considered the matter as worse than it really was." 



232 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

About this time Dr. Doddridge received from the 
Rev. Mr. Pearsall a very affectionate and pious letter, 
which is valuable for the light which it throws upon 
the reputation sustained by Dr. Doddridge both as a 
pastor and as an author. 

From the Uev. R. Pearsall. 

" Taunton, Feb. 9, 1749. 

"My good brother Darracott having communi- 
cated to me what you have written to him, and telling 
me at the same time that he was to write to you under 
a frank, you will excuse my indulging myself in writing 
to you ; and if I only express a little of the honor and 
"affection with which my pulse beats high, and lay my- 
self before you as one that needs, desires, and puts a 
high regard upon your prayers, a purpose may be 
answered. 

" As the complaints you make carry in them the 
marks of sorrow, I have learned to sympathize with 
you ; though I think at the same time you have abun- 
dant cause for thanksgiving. God has greatly ad- 
vanced you by the situation he has given you in his 
church ; he has set you high above most that he has 
made stewards there, and there are a great many who 
will call you their spiritual father at the great day of 
manifestation ; remarkable power has gone forth with 
many of the gospel reports which you have uttered. 
If he now withholds the efficacious influence, surely he 
may do what he will with his own; and you know 
such dispensations may subserve very important ends. 
I do not say it is to humble, but it may be partly to 
keep low. How much pride is there in some, and in 
the best is it not a poisonous weed, that will spring 



MINISTRY AT NORTHAMPTON. 233 

up unless ever trampled down? We all allow that 
in the success that attends our ministrations the pow- 
er is of God, and not of man; and yet if any other 
heart is half as bad as mine, how ready is it to assume 
something to itself that does not belong to it ! 

" When I consider the thing in itself, I am induced 
to wonder that any who have a savor of piety should 
desert your ministry. But then I think, had not the 
blessed apostle the same trial ? Were there not many 
that had received him as an angel, and would have 
even plucked out their eyes, and given them to him, 
who were estranged from him ? But your soul has been 
carried above these things ; may it be so more entire- 
ly. May your faith fix your eye most attentively upon 
your Lord, who bore so much contradiction, and upon 
his dear apostles, who preached the gospel with much 
contention. I dare say these discouragements have 
already answered a good purpose ; perhaps they have 
been the means of seasoning your spirit to some fur- 
ther degrees of spirituality ; perhaps, if we go no fur- 
ther for a reason, we may find it in the account you 
had received, or were to receive from abroad of the 
spread of your printed works. The apostle himself, 
when he was so highly favored with visions and reve- 
lations, soon found a thorn in the flesh, which some 
have, not improbably, imagined might be the rising of 
false apostles; and this even that humble apostle 
looked upon as designed to prevent pride, 'lest I 
should be exalted above measure. 7 Consider, sir, the 
Lord has done you more honor than ever any man in 
your day. There is no one whose works have been 
translated into such various languages, and have had 



234 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

so wide a spread. Methinks I cannot but apply to 
you these words : ' Thou art a chosen vessel unto me, 
to bear my name among the Gentiles/ among the 
Dutch, the French, and Germans. Oh, sir, while this 
honor is so extraordinary, it is a great trial of your 
humility. I know you will adore, with a profound pros- 
tration of soul, and say that by the grace of God you 
are what you are ; that every part of your furniture, 
in head, heart, and education, comes from on high : go 
on to do so, and it will be a token for good that the 
Lorfl will do more still by you. 

" Still you say, while God has so crowned you 
abroad, you would be the immediate instrument of con- 
victions, etc. And I doubt not that it is a noble am- 
bition which glows in your breast, and I trust the Lord 
will gratify you in your gracious desires ; but if he 
should not, comfort yourself with this, that he has not 
only wrought by you this way already more than by 
most, but is peculiarly in two ways making you 
extensively useful ; the one is by your printed works, 
both in England and beyond the seas, so that no one 
living can so properly apply those words, quce regio in 
terris nostri non plena laboris ? By these you are not 
only preaching with a loud voice indeed, but will be 
doing so after your own translation to heaven. The 
other is, by your being the instrument of begetting so 
many fathers, if I may use the expression. And if 
you look no further than Mr. Fawcett and Mr. Dar- 
racott, you may say, ' My heart is glad, and my glory 
rejoiceth.' The greater things God does by them the 
more exuberant may your joy be, as your blessed, 
happy, honored hand formed and fashioned them for 



MINISTRY AT NORTHAMPTON. 235 

the service of the sanctuary ; I think two of the most 
successful ministers among us. 

" Oh, sir, if there are any bowels of mercy for 
others, and I know you have a large heart, pray for 
me; do it by name. God has not left us, but gra- 
ciously gives us some tokens of his presence. Entreat 
that he will quicken my soul, fill it with the most pure 
and ardent breathings, strengthen my hands, and if 
he sees best, recruit frail nature, which is evidently 
sinking, and causes me to think of Gideon's motto, 
1 Paint, yet pursuing.' 

" I am almost ashamed of the freedom I have tak- 
en ; but you know I love you, and should be glad to 
sit at your feet as a learner." 

Finding it impracticable, with all his diligence, to 
visit as often as he thought desirable the members of 
so large and scattered a congregation, he proposed to 
them on December 4, 1737, to elect four persons of 
distinguished piety, gravity, and experience, to the 
office of elders; which accordingly was done. He 
thought that such an office was authorized by Scrip- 
ture ; at least, that the circumstances of some pastors 
and churches rendered it expedient to have such offi- 
cers to inspect the state of the church, and assist the 
pastor in some portions of his work. They visited 
and prayed with the sick ; sought out and conversed 
with persons who appeared to be under religious im- 
pressions, or were regarded as promising candidates 
for a public profession of religion ; and besides these 
things, the elders often delivered a public exhortation. 
They met weekly with their pastor to communicate 
to him their observations upon the spiritual aspects 



236 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

of the congregation, and to receive counsel and advice 
in cases of peculiar difficulty. The services of this 
eldership were found to be greatly beneficial to the 
people, and an invaluable assistance to the pastor in 
laboring for their good. 

No place more appropriate than this can be found 
for inserting the admirable Letter of Instructions 
addressed by Dr. Doddridge to the elders of his con- 
gregation. 

" To the Rev. Mr. Evans, the Rev. Mr. Orton, and Mr. John Brown, 
Elders of the Church of Christ at Northampton under my pastoral 
care ; together with Mr. Hay worth, their associate in that work: 

" MY DEAR AND WORTHY FRIENDS, BELOVED IN THE 

Lord — Permit me, with all possible sincerity, to assure 
you that I esteem the relation in which you stand to 
the church as its elders, in the number of the many 
valuable mercies which I enjoy in my present very 
comfortable situation. I doubt not that from the 
word of God, and the reasonings of your own minds 
upon that relation in general, you are in the main 
acquainted with the duties of your office, and I well 
know there are those of you who have been active 
and faithful in discharging them. Nevertheless, as 
you desire some further advice upon that head, I, who 
also am an elder, and your companion as well as your 
leader in the service of our common Lord, have 
thought it incumbent upon me to comply with this 
your request, and in doing it I shall use great plain- 
ness of speech, humbly hoping that He, in whose hand 
I set about this work, will assist me to write what 
may be as a nail fixed in a sure place, and may be 
useful to others as well as to yourselves. 



MINISTRY AT NORTHAMPTON. 237 

" "I apprehend, my dear brethren, that the duties 
of your office may be considered partly as ordinary, 
that is, due from you to all the members of the church 
whatever their circumstances are, and partly as pe- 
culiar and extraordinary, in consequence of something 
singular in the condition of some persons who may 
come under your consideration. 

"I. The great common duty which you owe to the 
church in general, and which must indeed be the 
foundation of all the rest, is, that you carefully inspect 
them, and for that end that you visit them ; for with- 
out that care, it will hardly be possible to judge thor- 
oughly of the state of religion among them. For the 
better regulation, therefore, of this important affair, 
I would humbly offer you the following advice : 

"1. Get a list of all the heads of families at least, 
and if you can, of all other persons belonging to the 
church. I present you with such a list, together with 
this letter, and I desire that each of you would tran- 
scribe it, and sometimes review it, suppose once a 
year, that you may recollect what notice is taken of 
the several persons who stand upon it; and it will be 
easy for you to make proper additions to it as new 
members are admitted among us. 

"2. Let this list be distributed into different class- 
es, and each class assigned in a more particular man- 
ner to one of you, not as the only persons you are to 
regard, but as those of whom you are to take the chief 
care. This should be done by mutual consent, and a 
catalogue of them written out by the elder to whose 
special care they fall. And I think it would be prop- 
er this should be done on a sheet of paper, in such a 



238 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

manner that there may be room to write over against 
every name the time when the person was solemnly 
visited last, and perhaps some little memoranda con- 
cerning further business to be done with or for him ; 
or if such memoranda be too long, a little book may 
be required for them, the articles of which may be 
easily referred to in this paper by setting them down 
under distinct numbers. 

"3. Let the families and persons thus taken upon 
the list of each, be visited as you have opportunity, 
taking the most important first, but on the whole neg- 
lecting none ; and endeavor to make your visits as 
serviceable to them as possible. For this purpose 
call the heads of families apart ; inquire of them how 
it fares with them and their families as to their relig- 
ious state ; give them such exhortations, instructions, 
and admonitions as you judge proper ; and especially 
endeavor to engage them to a strict observation of 
family worship, and a spiritual care of their children 
and servants. 

"4. Observe how they are furnished with good 
books, and especially with Bibles, and what provision 
is made for teaching the children and servants to 
read. 

"5. Take an opportunity of addressing the chil- 
dren and servants of the family with some short but 
serious exhortation, and endeavor to impress your 
own hearts with a deep sense of the importance of 
their character. For be assured that, under God, the 
children of godly parents are the great hope of the 
church for future generations. In this view, if you 
and the deacons were to visit the charity school at 



MINISTRY AT NORTHAMPTON. - 239 

certain times, to talk to, and to pray with the chil- 
dren, it might perhaps turn to good account. 

" 6. Conclude your visits with prayer when you 
can do so conveniently, and this not merely in ig- 
norant, or in less considerable families, but even 
when you come to the families of those who are most 
eminent in religion. It will quicken your own hearts, 
and may quicken theirs. 

"7. When you return from visiting your brethren, 
recollect their cases, consider what petitions are to 
be offered up to God for them in the next return of 
secret duty, what care is to be taken of them, and 
particularly what information it may be proper to 
give me concerning any thing encouraging, or other- 
wise, which you may have observed in them or their 
families. 

"II. I would now remind you of some of the more 
particular duties of your office with relation to those 
whose case may require a distinguishing notice ; and 
here, 

"1. Take notice of those who are under any seri- 
ous impressions, or any spiritual distress, and make 
your visits to them more frequent. Eemember that 
these are tender times, and that it is of great impor- 
tance to work together with the Holy Spirit when he 
seems to begin his gracious operations on the human 
soul. 

"2. Where you judge that any are prepared by 
divine grace for church-membership, and are not yet 
come to the Lord's table, visit and confer with them 
as to an approach. Endeavor to remove their diffi- 
culties and discouragements, and inform me, that I 



240 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

may put their names on the list which I keep of such 
persons. 

"3. Visit and pray with the sick, and deal serious- 
ly with them about their eternal interests. And here 
stay not always to be sent for, but go and offer your 
services where you have reason to think they will be 
acceptable ; and as it will not be probable that you 
can see them so frequently as their case requires, en- 
deavor to engage some pious neighbor to visit them, 
so that they may be seen every day while their illness 
continues extreme ; and if I am informed, and be near 
them, I shall always be ready to join my labors with 
yours on this occasion. 

" 4. If any are under remarkable afflictions, or have 
received remarkable deliverances, make them a visit 
upon the occasion. 

"5. Where you hear any behave in a disorderly 
manner, make an immediate application to them ; and 
where any are offended and come to you with their 
complaints, do not immediately engage yourselves in 
the quarrel, but put them upon proceeding regularly, 
according to the wise direction of our blessed Lord : 
that is, if it be a matter of private offence only, let 
the party offended go to the offender, and tenderly 
expostulate with him ; and then if he will not hear, let 
him take two more and repeat that admonition; and 
let these be persons of discretion, humility, and ten- 
derness. And if the offender will not hear these, then 
let the matter be brought before the church. And 
here let it be observed, that good order seems to re- 
quire that one of the elders should be the person to 
state the case, for he is likely to speak more wisely 



MINISTRY AT NORTHAMPTON. 241 

than the person offended, who is often himself also 
much to blame. And as debates in a church meeting 
are dangerous if not managed with great prudence, I 
think, in such cases, all the elders and the pastor ought 
to be previously acquainted with the facts, that they 
may take counsel together, and ask for their counsel 
from the Lord, who, in that case will, I hope, guide 
us in judgment. But as for cases of public scandal, I 
think the offender ought to be publicly admonished, 
and if he does really repent, I apprehend that he ought 
to express that repentance by such confession and hu- 
miliation as may be satisfactory, not to the elders 
alone, but to the church in general ; till he has done 
which, I cannot be free that such a person should sit 
down with us at the table of the Lord. This I take 
to be the regular method of proceeding with offend- 
ers ; yet I must add that I think it proper that the 
elders should examine the case, and deal with every 
offender privately, before admonition is solemnly 
given. 

"6. I think it incumbent on the elders to take no- 
tice of the temporal necessities of those whom they 
visit, and to give proper information to the deacons, 
and also to give them such exhortations relating to 
the discharge of their duty from time to time, as may 
be subservient to the good of the whole. And as God 
has blessed the church with deacons of such distin- 
guished worth, and such approved wisdom and fidelity, 
I hope I need not remind you, my brethren, how 
proper it will be to join their counsel with yours in 
all matters of importance. 

"7. The elders should cultivate an intimate friend- 

Doddridge. 1 1 



242 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

ship with each other. Remembering that the whole 
church is in some degree the province of each, and 
proper times should be assigned, in which they and 
the pastor may consult together in cares of diffi- 
culty and importance, and in which the result of their 
mutual observations should be carefully communicated 
to him ; though indeed, the more frequently something 
of this kind passes in occasional meetings, the better 
it may be. 

"8. As the pastor is with peculiar care to watch 
over the elders, and to admonish and exhort them, 
so are they likewise, in the spirit of humility and love, 
to watch over him in the Lord. And I do hereby en- 
treat and charge you, my brethren, that if there be 
any thing in my temper and conduct which appears 
to you to give just and reasonable offence, you would 
remind me of it plainly and faithfully ; and I hope you 
will always find that I shall receive advice with meek- 
ness, and endeavor to be an example to others of a 
readiness to reform as God shall enable me. 

"Thus, my dear friends, I have laid before you 
with all freedom a variety of hints relating to your 
office ; and if you think it would be for the service of 
the church that these things should be done, then per- 
mit me to charge and entreat you that you be careful 
in these respects. I would not be an idol shepherd, 
and I would not have you images of elders, bearing 
so honorable a name while the duties of the office are 
neglected : it would therefore be much better to throw 
up the name, than not to answer it by vigorous and 
correspondent services. But if you apprehend the 
province too large, and deske, in order to make it 



MINISTRY AT NORTHAMPTON. 243 

easier, to increase your number, I shall heartily ap- 
prove it, and will join with you in a proper applica- 
tion to the church for that purpose ; only I desire that, 
before any are invested with the office, which, I think, 
should be done by solemn prayer, they may hear or 
read this letter, and declare their acceptance of the 
office upon these terms. 

"I am sensible, my dear brethren, that it may seem 
a heavy burden that I lay upon you ; but remember 
that God is able to make all grace abound to you, to 
strengthen you for all these labors, and for more than 
these. It will demand some share of your time, as 
well as thought ; but remember He can bless you in 
your affairs, so as to give much more than you take 
from them in such labors of love ; and be assured of 
this, that you will find the reward of all. While you 
water others, you will be watered yourselves; and 
grace will be strengthened in your hearts by the en- 
deavors you use to quicken and confirm your breth- 
ren ; and as you share in a part of the work, you shall 
also share in the glorious reward which faithful min- 
isters shall receive when the great Shepherd shall ap- 
pear. The wisdom of this world is foolishness with 
God ; but those who have been wise to win souls shall 
then shine forth as the stars ; yea, they shall shine for 
ever as the sun in their Father's kingdom. And there- 
fore gird up the loins of your mind, apply with vigor 
to the office assigned you, and watch over your hearts 
and lives in such a manner that you may always be fit 
to engage in this service with spirit and authority, and 
may that God who led Jacob like a flock, be with you 
and bless you ; may his counsel guide you, may his 



244 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

grace quicken you, may his strength fortify you ; and 
be assured of this, that, as I am thoroughly persuaded 
you will often be praying for me and the church with 
great earnestness and importunity, so you will have, 
if that can be any encouragement to you, a share in 
our petitions at the throne of grace, and particularly 
in those of my dear friends. 

" Your very affectionate brother and fellow-labor- 
er, and your faithful servant, for Jesus 7 sake, 

"PHILIP DODDRIDGE." 

It is in order to notice here the establishment, at 
Dr. Doddridge's suggestion and by his influence, of a 
Charity-school in town, in the year 1738, for the in- 
struction of the children of the poor. Certain sums 
weekly or annually were contributed to the support 
of it by the parents according to their ability. Soon 
a foundation was laid for instructing and clothing 
twenty boys, who were selected and placed under the 
care of a pious teacher, who taught them to read and 
write, and gave them religious instruction. He brought 
them also to public worship. An annual sermon was 
preached, and a collection taken for the support of the 
school. Dr. Doddridge and many of his friends out 
of town contributed to it in books and money. He 
often visited the school, to strengthen the authority 
and influence of the teacher ; to observe the progress 
of the children ; to talk to them, catechize, and pray 
with them. A weekly visit was also made by the 
trustees in rotation, for similar purposes. The re- 
sults were exceedingly happy, and great good was 
accomplished. 

The pastoral labors of Doddridge, so faithful and 



MINISTRY AT NORTHAMPTON. 245 

energetic, were not performed without earnest self- 
culture and constant self-vigilance. On his desk lay 
a memorandum-book, in which, as they occurred to 
him, hints were inserted of what further should be 
done for the benefit of his people — of visits to be 
made to particular persons, the manner of addressing 
them, and evils to be corrected. At the end of al- 
most every year he instituted a solemn review of his 
ministrations, and formed resolutions aiming at im- 
provements for the future. He took great delight in 
attending services for the ordination of ministers, and 
often preached on such occasions. Upon returning 
from such a service, October 22, 1736, when he had 
preached from Heb. 13:17, "They watch for your 
souls, as they that must give account," he writes in 
his diary : 

"It was a solemn, awful day, and left some deep 
impressions on my heart. I would remember that, 
teaching others, I teach myself. I have many cares 
and labors. May God forgive me, that I am so apt to 
forget those of the pastoral office. 

"I now resolve, 1. To take a more particular account 
of the souls committed to my care. 

"2. To visit, as soon as possible, the whole congre- 
gation, to learn more particularly the circumstances 
of them, their children, and servants. 

"3.1 will make as exact a list as I can of those that 
I have reason to believe are unconverted, of the awak- 
ened, and of the converted and those who should come 
to the communion, as well as those that are in the 
church. 

"4. When I have any thing particular relating to 



246 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

the religious state of my people, I will visit them and 
talk with them. 

"5. I will especially be careful to visit the sick. 

"6. I will begin immediately with inspection over 
those under my own roof, that I may with the greater 
freedom urge other heads of families to a like care. 

my soul, the account is great. Lord, I hope thou 
knowest I am desirous of approving myself a faithful 
servant of thee, and of souls. Oh watch over me, that 

1 may watch over them, and then all will be well. 
Continue these things on the imagination of my heart, 
that my own sermon may not another day rise up in 
judgment against me." 

It would seem that if ever there was a true man, 
an honest man — a good pastor — such was Dr. Dod- 
dridge. We are told by his friend and student the 
pious Orton, who knew him most intimately, that the 
above and similar reflections and resolutions made at 
other times, were exemplified in his general conduct. 
Well would it be for the church at large, if her min- 
istry would study and imitate so bright and rare an 
example of pastoral wisdom and fidelity. 

And how were such services and such eminent de- 
votion to the spiritual interests of his charge appre- 
ciated and honored at Northampton and elsewhere? 
Orton informs us that few ministers have been more 
esteemed and beloved by their people. Extraordinary 
success attended the earlier years of his ministry 
among them ; and during the whole course of it, his 
congregation flourished in numbers, and generally, in 
the discharge of Christian duties. At times, indeed, 
with other faithful pastors, he was obliged to lament 



MINISTRY AT NORTHAMPTON. 247 

the defection or immoralities of some, and these oc- 
casioned him the deepest grief. 

In reference to disappointments and sorrows of 
this kind, he writes, "God hath sanctified all these 
grievances to me; hath made me more humble, more 
watchful, more mortified to this vain world and its 
interests and enjoyments, than I ever remember to 
have found myself. He has visited me from time to 
time with such strong consolations, with such delight- 
ful effusions of his love, that, in this connection, I am 
his debtor for all these afflictions ; and from this grow- 
ing experience of his goodness, I am encouraged, and 
have determined to leave myself with him, and to have 
no will, no interest of my own, separate from his. I 
have been renewing the dedication of myself and ser- 
vices to Him, with as entire a consent of heart as I 
think myself capable of feeling ; and with that calm 
acquiescence in Him, as my portion and happiness, 
which I would not resign for ten thousand worlds." 

So great enjoyment did he find in the affectionate 
regards and good conduct of his church as a body, 
that none of the many invitations, however flattering, 
to change his field of labor were entertained. He 
had calls to London as well as other places, where 
his secular interests would have been greatly ad- 
vanced; but he loved his Northampton friends too 
well, to separate himself from the care of their spirit- 
ual interests. His great concern, says Orton, was to 
do as much service for them, and be as little burden- 
some to them as possible ; for he sought not theirs, but 
them. And most of them, in return, studied to honor 
and serve him, to strengthen his hands, and encourage 



248 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

his labors. He reckoned the providence which fixed 
him with them among the most singular blessings of 
his life ; and in his will, bears testimony to their ex- 
cellent and exemplary character. 

Perhaps no view more truthful, certainly none 
more touching, can be obtained of the fervent love 
which this good man bore to his people, than that 
which we gain from reading some provisions in his 
last will and testament for their spiritual, and also their 
temporal welfare, after they should see his face and 
hear his voice no more. Not content with what he 
could do for them while he lived, he sought a posthu- 
mous usefulness among their beloved families. 

" As for my body, whenever I die, it is my desire 
that it may be buried, at as moderate an expense as 
decency will allow, in the grave which I have pre- 
pared in the meeting-place at Northampton, where I 
have spent the most delightful hours of my life in 
assisting the devotions of as serious, as grateful, and 
as deserving a people as perhaps any minister had 
ever the honor and happiness to serve; cheerfully 
persuading myself that when I am dead they will 
hear me speaking in my writings with all due regard, 
and making it my last request to them that those of 
them who have, or can borrow my ' Family Expositor/ 
will read it over in their families once at least, begin 
ning it the Lord's day after my funeral ; and that the} 
would also read over in their families on Lord's daj 
evenings all my sermons which they have, or can bor 
row, especially those on ' Regeneration/ those on ' The 
Glory and Grace of Christ/ the ' Sermons to Young 
Persons/ and that on ' The One Thing Needful. 7 And 



MINISTRY AT NORTHAMPTON. 249 

I desire that every parent that can procure them 
would read in their retirements my * Sermons on the 
Education of Children/ within one quarter of a year 
at least after my death. And as I make this request 
from an affectionate desire for the edification and sal- 
vation of souls, and a humble hope that in conse- 
quence of it I may glorify God even when I am laid 
in the dust, I desire that this clause of my will may 
be read in the congregation the Lord's day after I 
am buried, and mentioned also in my funeral-sermon, 
which I desire my dear friend Mr. Orton would preach 
from these words, ' Death is swallowed up in victory, 
etc.: thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory, 
through our Lord Jesus Christ. 7 1 Cor. 15 : 54-57. 

" As a small token of my respect to a congregation 
on many accounts so dear to me, I leave the sum of 
twenty pounds, to be distributed at the discretion of 
the deacons of the church for the time being, in no 
smaller sums than five shillings, and no greater than 
twenty shillings, to each person among such poor 
Christians as statedly attend ordinances among us, 
desiring that their prayers, which living I have great- 
ly esteemed, may be continued for the afflicted remains 
of my dear family, which will not, I am persuaded, be 
upon the whole the poorer for this little kindness to 
those whom I hope they will consider as the friends 
of Christ, and will delight as they can in doing them 
good. 

" To each of the elders of the church for the time 
being I leave a guinea for a ring, and to each of the 
deacons for the time being such a volume of my ser- 
mons as they shall choose, handsomely bound in black 

11* 



250 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

calf, and lettered ; entreating each of those my valua- 
ble friends to accept this little token of my cordial 
love, and to continue that prudent and generous care 
of the church, and that mutual affection to each other, 
for which they have hitherto been so happily remark- 
able." 

A large number of letters might here be intro- 
duced, showing the high estimation in which Br. Dod- 
dridge was generally held as an able divine and a model 
pastor; of these a few only are given. 

In the early part of 1741, Mr. Benjamin Fawcett, 
one of the most pious and devoted of Doddridge's 
students, was unanimously chosen pastor at Taunton, 
a market-town in Somersetshire, to which place his 
honored teacher travelled to take a part in his ordi- 
nation in June of the following year and from whence 
he thus wrote : 

To Mrs. Doddridge. 

"Taunton, June 17, 1742. 

" Your delightful letter reached me here On Mon- 
day night, just after I was returned from the polite 
and religious family of the Welmans, the glory of the 
dissenters in these parts; and on the whole, such a 
family for all that is great, or good, as I never before 
knew. Their only fault was that they received me 
with almost a princely elegance and magnificence at 
a table much fitter for an archbishop than a poor 
country minister, which confounded me not a little. 
I spent the day there, supped there, and we parted 
not till towards ten o'clock. 

" Yesterday I preached and prayed over Mr. Faw- 



MINISTRY AT NORTHAMPTON. 251 

cett. We had I suppose near two thousand persons 
present ; of whom forty were ministers. I was treat- 
ed by them with a deference of which I was quite 
unworthy, and forced by them to submit to honors 
which I should rather have bestowed on the least of 
my brethren ; and bless God I went through my work 
with cheerfulness, though I had no sleep the night 
before. All this morning I have been receiving 
visits." 

To this account of the ordination of Mr. Fawcett 
we are tempted to add from the pen of Mr. Joseph 
Williams, whom we have already introduced as a 
correspondent of Doddridge, a short narrative of Mr. 
Fawcett's visit to Kidderminster, and his call to the 
pastorate there in 1744. Mr. Williams writes, " We 
have been blest with the presence and excellent labors 
of dear Mr. Fawcett, from whom I parted last Mon- 
day at Worcester. He hath our hearts, and I am cer- 
tain we have his. He came hither on the seventeenth, 
preached the next day thrice, preached a preparation 
sermon on Tuesday, before many ministers, and last 
Lord's day preached thrice, and administered the 
Lord's supper. Such a sacramental season my soul 
was never feasted with before. I could most gladly 
have left God's lower courts and this lower world 
together, and have fled up to the realms of perfect 
blessedness. Adored be the divine condescension and 
grace for what I felt most sensibly on that memorable 
day. 

"All the trustees waited on Mr. Fawcett in a 
body in the vestry, as soon as he had finished his pub- 



252 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

lie services, and presented him with an i* /<kition ; 
cheerfully signed by every male communicant and 
male subscriber; and as soon as he returned to his 
lodging, three youths presented him with a very press- 
ing, affectionate, and pious address, drawn up by one 
of them, and signed by more than thirty young men, 
of whom all but two or three are between eighteen 
and twenty-one, and the sons of communicants." 

Thus before he had been settled at Taunton four 
years, he was removed to Kidderminster. 

Of Fawcett, Dr. James Hamilton has well said in 
the " North British Review," " His sphere for five and 
thirty years was Kidderminster, and the charge im- 
mortalized by the name of Baxter. Never had min- 
ister a more kindred successor. Not only did Mr. 
Fawcett adopt the Baxterian theology, and attain a 
goodly measure of the Baxterian importunity and 
pathos in preaching, but it was the labor of his leisure 
to abridge such works as the ' Saints' Rest/ and the 
' Call to the Unconverted/ and ' Converse with God 
in Solitude/ It is easy to curtail a book. With pen 
and scissors any man may make a long treatise short. 
But it is not so easy to condense a book — preserving 
all its essence, and only diminishing its volume. But 
this is what the skill of Fawcett has effected for the 
copiousness of Baxter. Relieving the work of cum- 
brous quotations and irrelevant discussions, he has 
also compressed the exuberant phraseology, but so 
happily that it still retains a pleasing fulness. And 
while the condensation has increased the effectiveness 
of the composition, with the tenderness of a foster- 
father he has sacrificed nothing which the author 



MINISTRY AT NORTHAMPTON. 253 

would have grieved to surrender. Like a second dis- 
tillation, the entire spirit of Baxter still is there; and 
like a bullet after it has passed through the compress- 
ing machine, the bulk is diminished, but the entire 
metal remains, and tlje momentum is increased. In 
his own ministry, Mr. Fawcett was eminent for his 
abundant labors and physical energy. In his hale 
constitution and hardihood only he was not a succes- 
sor of Baxter. Like his tutor he used to rise every 
morning at five, and even in the coldest weather he 
never had a fire in his study. And three sermons on 
Sabbath, with several through the week, seemed only 
to have the effect of a wholesome exercise." 

To Mrs. Doddridge. 

" London, Aug. 9, 1742. 

" Once more, my dearest love, accept my thanks, 
my wishes, and my heart, for they are all most affec- 
tionately yours. I continue, considering my labor, 
surprisingly well. Yesterday I preached for Mr. 
Godwin to a vastly crowded auditory, two very plain 
and serious sermons, which seemed to be heard with 
great regard and attention. If God be pleased to 
make my poor endeavors of service useful in propor- 
tion to the degree in which they seem to have been 
acceptable, during this nine weeks' absence from you, 
the crown of all my earthly joys and hopes will be 
complete. But if it be his blessed will, may I never 
more know what it is to be another nine weeks togeth- 
er separated from you; for indeed, when I am not 
engaged in some public service, I seem to be but a 
poor fragment of myself. 

" I will not add any thing, lest the letter should be 



254 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

delayed, and you made uneasy ; for next to offending 
God, there is nothing I fear so much as grieving my 
dear wife ; and next to pleasing him, nothing I desire 
so much as pleasing you. I hope it will be the de- 
lightful business of all the remainder of my life ; and 
I think there is no view in which death would appear 
so painful to me, as that it might distress you. May 
the blessings of providence and grace meet and rest 
upon you." 

In the closing months of 1744, Dr. Doddridge was 
visited with a dangerous illness, in the form of bilious 
fever, which for some time threatened his life. After 
his recovery, he wrote to Dr. Samuel Clarke in this 
language : " A violent illness, in which I had directed 
a friend to beg the favor of you to come over and 
preach my funeral-sermon, if the issue, as many ex- 
pected, had been my death, prevented my answering 
your most obliging and affectionate letter. I hope 
some time or other to have an opportunity of telling 
you and your dear lady how God supported me under 
my greatest extremity, how comfortable he made a 
sick bed — the extremist I ever knew as to myself — 
to my soul, and how remarkably he gave me back to 
prayer." 

From the Rev. Samuel Wood. 

" Rendham, Saxmundham, Feb. 21, 1745. 

" My dear Friend and Brother in affliction — 
Very lately I heard of your dangerous sickness, by a 
letter from London, and I scarcely know of any thing 
which could have given me equal pain. How often 
have I wished to be within reach of you, to express 



MINISTRY AT NORTHAMPTON. 255 

my sympathy with your friends and family; but what 
was in my power I did, and that was to recommend 
my dear friend to the Father of mercies, and to plead 
in behalf of your dear family, the church, and the 
world, that God woujd spare a life so important, and 
permit us a little longer to enjoy your labors in this 
world. And I am sure, my dear friend, that if I ever 
pray in earnest, I do so when I am pleading for you, 
and I doubt not that you have many in the world 
besides your own dear and happy people whose prac- 
tice in this particular is the same with mine. Long 
may you live, my dear friend, the joy of the churches, 
at the head of the Protestant dissenters, their crown 
and glory ; and may your success in the several char- 
acters you fill up with so much diligence, zeal, and 
reputation, be answerable to your utmost wishes ; and 
I desire from my heart to bless God that we have 
still a prospect of this in your recovery. 

" And now, dear sir, with your return to life and 
service, may you enter upon your work with renewed 
vigor and delight ; and I would heartily congratulate 
you too, my dear friend, upon that which I dare- say 
you can never forget, your joys and delightful views 
when death seemed ready to open you a door into 
eternity. I have heard of your thoughts and expres- 
sions in the near prospect of another world, and can- 
not wonder that you should have earnestly longed for 
a fulness of divine enjoyment. In this case I perceive, 
contrary to all the wishes of your friends, you desired 
to be gone, and found great difficulty to be reconciled 
to stay any longer among us. I hope, however, dear 
sir, that though you are a little detained from the 



256 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

intimate fruition of your God and Saviour in heaven, 
you will abundantly find that it is for the good of the 
church, and of the world, that your continuance with 
us has been protracted ; and I am sure the pious and 
benevolent heart of Dr. Doddridge will not repine 
that heaven is deferred for a few years, but rather 
rejoice with exceeding joy for such an opportunity of 
glorifying God, which he could not have had in the 
world above, where there are no sinners to be con- 
verted, nor saints that need to be edified. 

" Adieu, dear sir ; beware of putting too much on 
yourself, and think of this so often as you remember 
your unworthy brother, friend, and humble servant, 

"SAMUEL WOOD." 

The Rev. John Barker was one of the most inti- 
mate friends and most frequent correspondents of 
Doddridge. He enjoyed a high fame for learning 
and moral excellence, and was considered one of the 
most eloquent preachers of his day. He succeeded 
the distinguished Matthew Henry in the charge of the 
church at Hackney, then several miles from London, 
but removed to Salter's Hall in the city in 1741, 
where Doddridge was invited to join him. In a letter 
to Dr. Doddridge, yet unpublished, Mrs. Doddridge 
says, in reference to this call, " I am concerned to hear 
of good Mr. Numan's death ; I allow the temptation 
is very strong, and I think if you can withstand it, as 
I believe you will, it is one of the greatest proofs of 
your affection for Northampton that you may perhaps 
ever have it in your power to give ; as I believe there 
is hardly a person in the world that you would think 
yourself so happy in joining with as good Mr. Barker." 



MINISTRY AT NORTHAMPTON. 25T 

Mr. Barker was a warm devotee to civil and 
religious freedom, and was very active , and useful in 
advancing his friend's interest in the case of his 
prosecution, or rather persecution, in reference to his 
academy. We may add here, that when President 
Davies, some years afterwards, visited London on 
behalf of the college in New Jersey, he recorded 
kindness received from this distinguished man. In 
1719, when the London ministers met at Salter's Hall 
to discuss the importance of a subscription to the 
doctrine of the Trinity, Mr. Barker strenuously sus- 
tained that measure. 

From the Rev. John Barker. 

" March 26, 1745. 

" I hear you have been sick, nigh unto death, but 
God has had mercy on you, and on his churches, and 
ministers also, that we might not have sorrow upon 
sorrow. 

" I wish you would not make so free with your 
constitution ; you really do what you ought not. You 
have not so much mercy on your body as on your 
beast. May not a man be intemperate in labor, as 
well as in liquor ? Pray let your friends hear of your 
moderation. Begin to take upon you a little caution, 
and put on the gravity of a doctor now, instead of the 
sprightliness of a young divine. Do not engage in 
so many things. A gentleman whose judgment you 
value told me he wanted very much to see an expo- 
sition of yours upon the Romans, and I added, upon 
the Revelation too, which is near akin to it; 'but 
we must live upon hope till he will contract his views, 
and spare himself/ 



258 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

" May the great Lord of the vineyard do you more 
and more honor, and strengthen you in body and soul. 
We unite in services to you and yours. 

" I am yours as much as your heart can wish, 

" JOHN BARKER." 
To the Rev. Samuel Wood. 

" Northampton, May 19, 1745. 

" I cannot sufficiently thank you for so large and 
constant remembrance in the prayers of one of the 
best of men; nor can I sufficiently thank God, who 
thus lays me on your heart. I earnestly beg the con- 
tinuance of that kind remembrance, as I greatly need 
it, not only with respect to the state of my health, 
which is again a good deal shaken, but on account of 
that exceeding great burden which now lies upon me, 
in consequence of the scandalous behavior of a person 
who, though low in circumstances, has been eminently 
distinguished by his religious profession. This, joined 
to the coldness and deadness that I find among many 
professors, and the want of a becoming spirituality 
and zeal in some intended for the ministry, and a pro- 
pensity towards some principles which seem to me very 
injurious to Christianity, if not quite subversive of it, 
press heavily upon my heart ; yet I bless God I am at- 
tempting a little to remedy these things. But Oh, who 
can say he does his best, the best even of his little ? 

" You write, my dear friend, as knowing but little 
of me. I have the greatest reason to be continually 
humbled before God, as a very unprofitable servant; 
and life would be a burden to me, and death a terror, 
if it were not for the encouragement I draw from the 
manifestations of the free grace of God in the gospel, 



MINISTRY AT NORTHAMPTON. 259 

and the provision he has there made for rendering us 
'accepted in the Beloved. 7 When I see what Christi- 
anity is, and see how it is trampled upon in the world, 
and how little vital energy it has even on those who 
speculatively believe it, I am astonished at the divine 
patience, and cannot but wish, with humble submis- 
sion to the great Lord of life, to escape from this sad 
scene of things which I can do so little, so very little 
to mend. But you, and a very few who are like you, 
make it easier to be reconciled to earth, and greatly 
help my conceptions of heaven. 

" I rejoice in the hope of seeing you and your dear 
lady at Norwich ; but whether I shall come with or 
without my wife, whether I shall go to Kent through 
Suffolk, or come directly back to Northampton when 
the ordination is over, I cannot yet so much as conjec- 
ture. Only this I know, that you, and my other dear 
brethren and friends whom you mention, have so large 
a share in my heart, that to refuse any request you can 
make will, if ever so necessary, be very painful to, 

"Dear good man, your affectionate brother, and 
faithful humble servant." 

From Miss Scott 

"Norwich, May 20, 1745. 
"Had my spirits been much less depressed than 
they were at the reception of your last, I know not 
how they could have supported the overwhelming ten- 
derness it expressed. Oh, how is it that I have such 
a friend ; that I should be so dear to one so dear to 
God ! This, were my case but such as you have paint- 
ed it to yourself, would give a cheering hope that so 
powerful, so fervent an intercessor at the throne of 



260 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

grace could not fail of obtaining the desired blessing. 
But, alas, it is infinitely more unhappy. Shall I open 
a melancholy scene, which, to spare you, I have kept 
concealed? The malady lies deep within. Shall I 
refer you to your own description of the vile apostate, 
and then tell you you may read the case of her you 
have honored with the name of friend ? How will 
your tender heart support the shock? No, dearest 
sir, it is not a threatening distemper of the body, it is 
not a dreadfully disordered set of nerves, I am alone 
conflicting with and sinking under ; but a guilty, selfish, 
condemning conscience, a hard unbelieving heart, a 
frowning God, a withdrawn Spirit. While I endure 
the terror of these I am driven sometimes into stupid- 
ity, at others, almost despair. I know the mercies of 
God are infinite ; I know that with him there is plen- 
teous redemption. I strive to repent, and embrace 
those mercies, and that redemption in the Saviour; 
but, alas, all seems in vain. I cry for the Spirit to 
aid my feeble attempts, to turn me to the God from 
whom I have revolted, but I cry in vain; yes, I am 
ready to give up all, till some new alarm from the 
body, or new horror, thrown into the mind, again 
arouses me to repeated cries. Oh, dearest sir, if 
friendship can survive the damp this description may 
well throw upon it, let it exert itself in the warmest 
prayers for an unhappy and most unworthy creature. 
" I have a dear comforter and warm intercessor 
with me in the tenderest of parents. He pours balm 
into my wounds, he wrestles hard in prayer for me, 
but hitherto so unsuccessfully that I am ready to apply 
those awful words to my own case, 'Though Noah, 



MINISTRY AT NORTHAMPTON. 261 

Daniel, and Job stood before me, my heart could not 
be toward/ etc. But who knows what continued and 
united cries may do ? Perhaps that awful sentence is 
not yet passed. If such hearts as his and yours are 
drawn out to wrestle for me, I would yet indulge a 
hope even against hope. 

" I have renounced every pleasure. I have made 
it my prayer, and charged my heart that it take none 
in any thing until it can find it in a reconciled God. 
I hope it is not inconsistent herewith to say that I 
long to see the dearest of all absent friends, for 
how much shame and grief must on my part mingle 
itself with that otherwise delightful interview, if I am 
permitted to enjoy it. But for dear Mrs. Doddridge I 
doubt I must resign that pleasing hope, for though my 
father and the deacons readily agreed to postpone the 
ordination to the time most suitable to you, yet it 
being found that some of the chief of our friends, par- 
ticularly Major Balderstone and his brother, were 
necessitated to be absent on business, they feel them- 
selves, though with much regret, obliged to beg your 
presence at the time first named. My letter is waited 
for, and I can therefore only add my entreaties for 
your prayers for my dearest father, whom you may 
easily believe to be greatly afflicted. Our best ser- 
vices to you, dear sir, and your much esteemed lady, 
with the assurance that I am the most respectful, 
affectionate, and grateful of your servants, 

"E. SCOTT." 

From the Rev. Thomas Scott. 

"This letter is now waited for by a gentleman 
who is come from Norwich to our country lodgings, 



262 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

and I must therefore be short. You may be sure, very- 
honored and dear sir, it is with great regret to me 
that the state of affairs among us obliges us to hold 
to the time first fixed, even after we had all agreed to 
alter it for your and Mrs. Doddridge's sake ; but I 
hope, by a passage in your last, that we shall not be 
disappointed of so great a blessing as we expect from 
your company and assistance, public and private. 
You may imagine how wounding the case of my 
dearest child is : for some months she has been striv- 
ing with all her power for repentance, faith, hope, 
love, sanctification, and obedience; but thinks these 
pains all in vain, which overwhelms her; and you 
may be sure the lowness of her nervous system helps 
the disorder, as this does that. I believe a sincerer 
creature there is none upon earth, and my prayers 
and endeavors are continually with and for her, and 
I expect to see her freed from the troubles of her 
mind in a while, and long that you may come in the 
fulness of the blessing of the gospel, in yourself, and 
see her. And in the mean time I shall, now she has 
opened her mind to you, look for a great effect from 
your sympathy and supplications, and do beg them as 
on my knees. But I know your love will render it 
impossible for you not frequently and pathetically to 
recommend us both." 

To Miss Scott. 

"June 25, 1745. 

" I return you my most affectionate thanks for the 

freedom with which you have opened your mind to 

me, both by repeated and unreserved conversations, 

and by a communication of papers intended entirely 



MINISTRY AT NORTHAMPTON. 263 

for your own use. The consequence, I most faithfully 
assure you, is, that the more I know you the more 
firmly am I convinced, not only that you are a real, 
but that you are a very advanced Christian. I have 
already pointed out the principles on which I build 
this conclusion. But as I have not yet been so happy 
as to remove your remaining difficulties, give me leave 
in this letter to lay before you some hints as to what 
I apprehend may be the cause, and by a divine bless- 
ing, in some measure at least, the cure of the anxiety 
which so much harasses your mind. 

" And pardon me if, in this strait of time, and in 
this hour which, with pleasure for your service, I take 
from my sleep, before the journey and labors of to- 
morrow, I do not touch upon particulars, and give 
short hints instead of illustrating, or reasoning upon 
them at large. 

" Now as to the causes of your present distress, I 
apprehend the following, among others, are the chief 
and most peculiar ; for I shall not mention those two 
grand cardinal sources of all our distress, the remain- 
der of sin in the best hearts while they continue here, 
and the artifice and malice of our common enemy. 
What are most peculiar seem to be, 

" 1. The weakness of animal nature, which, after 
the attacks you have borne, must necessarily be very 
feeble, unless it had been strengthened by a miracle, 
which, even in such a case, we have no warrant to 
expect. 

" 2. The extraordinary elevation of devotion which 
at some times you have known, and particularly when 
you were first setting out in religion. 



264 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

" 3. In consequence of this, an ardent desire of 
equalling all your former fervor of devotion in the 
present infirm state of your health; by the very desire 
and endeavor of which, I heartily wish that you may 
not utterly ruin it. 

" 4. A hard and unjust conclusion which you have 
hence drawn against yourself, that excites an indig- 
nation against yourself, as if you were one of the most 
ungrateful and criminal of our race, which you think 
you can never feel with sufficient sensibility. 

" 5. The sublime ideas which you have formed to 
yourself of the spiritual life, in which you seem not to 
make sufficient allowance either for the natural infir- 
mities of this our animal frame when in its best state, 
nor for the avocations inseparable from the life of one 
who is not absolutely a recluse from the world. I 
really apprehend these to be the causes of your dis- 
quietude. 

" With relation to the proper method of cure, the 
following particulars present themselves, which I wish 
I had time better to express and digest. 

"1. To lay it down as a certain principle that 
religion consists more in an intelligent, rational, and 
determinate choice of the will, than in any ardent 
transport of the affections. 

" 2. To consider that there is a certain degree of 
afflicting ourselves for past sins, and for present im- 
perfections, which is so far from being our duty, that 
it is very likely to prove a snare, and to produce con- 
sequences displeasing to our gracious Father in heav- 
en, and injurious both to ourselves and others. 

" 3. Settle it deliberately in your understanding 



MINISTRY AT NORTHAMPTON. 265 

as a certain truth, that the grand security of the soul 
lies in deliberately entrusting itself to Christ, as cho- 
sen in all his offices ; and in devoting itself to God 
through him, according to the tenor of the Christian 
covenant; and in steadily endeavoring to practise 
what the word of God requires, and to forbear every 
thing which it forbids, and in referring all its concerns, 
not excepting even the degree of its spiritual comfort 
and enjoyment, to his wise and gracious determination. 

" 4. In consequence of this, be often, and indeed 
daily, renewing your covenant with God, in the man- 
ner which the most excellent servant of Christ, your 
ever honored and beloved father, has so intelligently, 
affectionately, and frequently recommended. 

" 5. Let your devotions be reduced within narrow 
limits, and be rather frequent and short, than pro- 
tracted to any great length; and in your addresses 
at the throne of grace, be more intent upon the sin- 
cerity of the heart, and the calm fixedness of the 
thoughts, than about the flow of the affections, which 
are not and cannot be immediately in our own power, 
but may, humanly speaking, depend upon a thousand 
physical causes, the nature of which we do not so 
much as imagine. 

" 6. Consider how much of religion consists in 
trusting in God, in hoping in his mercy, and in rejoic- 
ing in him; and how suitable this is to the peculiar 
constitution of the gospel, and the character which 
Christ our Mediator bears ; by consequence, therefore, 
how essential a branch of gratitude it is, and how 
much a tender conscience should be upon its guard, 
that it does not fail here. 

Doddridge. 12 



266 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

" 7. Remember continually that after all it is by 
faith in the merits and intercession of Christ, and not 
by the perfection of our works, that we are to obtain 
justification and life ; and that the best of Christians, 
while they are in this world, have their imperfections, 
and may, and must, under a sense of them, apply daily 
to the great Advocate, and renew the actings of their 
faith upon his efficacious blood and intercession. 

" 8. Make yourself familiarly acquainted with the 
promises of God relating to the pardon of sin, the 
imparting of grace to the soul that seeks it ; choose 
for some time every morning some comfortable prom- 
ise to be the subject of your meditation; and now 
and then employ that fine talent which God has given 
you for poetical composition in paraphrasing such 
scriptures in short hymns. 

" 9. Endeavor to exert yourself as much as possi- 
ble in attempts of usefulness by conversing with the 
children who are so happy as to be the objects of your 
pious care, and with those persons who are in circum- 
stances that bear any resemblance to your own. 

" 10. Disburden yourself as much as possible of 
every anxious thought relating to futurity, whether 
regarding temporal things or spiritual, confine your 
views to present duties, and leave future contingencies 
in the hands of God. 

" 11. Be thankful for the least glimmering of hope, 
and for any kind and degree of consolation which 
God is pleased to give you; and take great heed that 
you do not suspect those comforts which lead you to 
God and happiness to be delusions, merely because 
they are not so permanent and effectual as you could 



MINISTRY AT NORTHAMPTON. 26*7 

wish, lest you should grieve that great Agent to whom 
you are so highly obliged, and whom you fear so ten- 
derly to grieve. 

" 12. In one word, study by all means to nourish 
the love of God in your heart; breathe forth with 
humble tenderness the genuine impressions of it ; and 
as human nature must have its weary intervals, delight 
to look to God in them as a being who penetrates the 
inmost recesses of the heart, and sees that secret ten- 
dency of soul to him, which I have neither tears nor 
words to express: 'Lord, thou knowest that I love 
thee/ or that I would; ' Thou knowest I would pre- 
fer the sensible exercises of it to any other delight.' 
By this method the habits of divine love will strength- 
en; and I verily believe that time "will at length 
produce such a consciousness of it, that you will be no 
more able to doubt of a share in it than of your own 
existence. 

" Your most affectionate friend and faithful hum- 

ble servant, 

"P. DODDRIDGE." 

It is pleasant to state here that this excellent lady 
happily recovered from this state of mental distress, 
and in 1751 became the second wife of the Eev. Elisha 
Williams, who had been rector of Yale College, and 
who visited England on public business at the close 
of 1749. Of Mr. Williams, Doddridge, as quoted by 
Dr. Sprague, in his " Annals of the American Pulpit, ;; 
said, " I look upon him to be one of the most valuable 
men upon earth ; he has, joined to an ardent sense of 
religion, solid learning, consummate prudence, great 
candor and sweetness of temper, and a certain noble- 



268 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

ness of soul capable of contriving and acting the 
greatest things without seeming to be conscious of 
having done them." Mrs. Williams became known 
in this country, as she had been in England, as an 
eminent literary lady, and some of her writings yet 
remain to do good. In 1755, Mr. Williams died 
happy in God, after which Mrs. Williams was married 
to the Hon. William Smith of New York, whom she 
also survived. Her death took place at Wethersfield, 
Conn., in 1776, at the age of sixty-eight years. 



HIS ACADEMICAL CHARGE. 269 



CHAPTER V. 

DR. DODDRIDGE'S ACADEMICAL AND THEOLOG- 
ICAL INSTRUCTIONS. 

A brief account has been already given of the 
founding of Dr. Doddridge's academy at Harborough 
in the year 1729. One of the most interesting public 
incidents connected with it was the prosecution which 
was instituted against Dr. Doddridge, after his re- 
moval to Northampton, for conducting his academy 
without the license of the Episcopal chancellor of 
that diocese. It awakened some painful apprehen- 
sions at first in the mind of Dr. Doddridge, and gave 
him much trouble ; but by the energetic assistance of 
the Earl of Halifax, and other eminent friends, the 
case, when tried at Westminster Hall, was decided in 
favor of Dr. Doddridge ; but as that decision might 
not prevent a renewal of the prosecution in some other 
form to his great annoyance, such a representation 
was made by some influential friends to His Majesty 
George II., of the worthy character, loyal and mode- 
rate principles, and eminent abilities of Dr. Doddridge, 
that an express command was issued from his majesty, 
that all further prosecution of the matter should be 
discontinued, in accordance with the laudable maxim 
which his majesty had adopted, that during his reign 
there should be no persecution for conscience' sake. 
After this, Dr. Doddridge was allowed to pursue his 
career as the instructor of a dissenting academy with- 
out further molestation or annoyance from an ecclesi- 



270 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

astical quarter. Yet in 1733 his house was assailed 
by a Jacobite mob, the chief agents in which were, 
however, discovered and punished by the civil mag- 
istrate. 

The fame of Doddridge had reached the court, not 
only in connection with his persecutions, but in the 
excellence of his works. The oldest son of George 
II., and father of George III., died during his father's 
reign, in the forty-fifth year of his age. As Prince of 
Wales, and heir to the British throne, he had great in- 
fluence ; and he opposed the infidelity of Bolingbroke 
and Chesterfield, in consequence of reading the works 
of Dr. Doddridge, which had made a deep impression 
on his mind. His sudden death excited deep sorrow, 
but his pious friends were cheered by the recollection 
of his piety, which had been thus cherished. The 
Princess of Wales also very readily allowed Dr. 
Doddridge to dedicate to her his "Family Exposi- 
tor/ 7 and afterwards expressed the great pleasure she 
enjoyed in reading it. 

We may add to this statement another made to 
the Eev. John Stoughton by a gentleman who held 
an appointment under George III., at Windsor cas- 
tle, to whom the king said, " If I know any thing 
of religion, I owe it to Dr. Ayscough, and that at an 
early age." Dr. Ayscough was a friend and corre- 
spondent of Doddridge, and wrote to him in Febru- 
ary, 1745, "I must tell you Prince George, to his 
honor, and my shame, has learned several pages in 
your little book of verses, [Principles of the Christian 
Religion,] without any direction from me." 

The following is part of an interesting correspond- 



HIS ACADEMICAL CHARGE. 271 

ence to which the above-mentioned persecution gave 
birth. It illustrates some of the annoyances to which 
dissenters were at that period exposed; and shows 
the spirit and ability of Dr. Doddridge. 

To the Earl of Halifax. 

" Northampton, 1732. 

" My Lord — An affair has occurred which obliges 
me to refer to your lordship for advice and protection, 
not only as a favor to myself and my friends in this 
county, but as one to the whole body of the king's 
Protestant, dissenting subjects; it being a case in 
which their civil rank, welfare, and liberties are 
apparently concerned. 

" On Tuesday last there was a diocesan visitation 
at Northampton, when Chancellor Reynolds was 
pleased to address a pretty long and warm harangue 
to the church-wardens of the parish in which I live. 
The substance of it was, to use his own words, that 
1 he was informed that there was a fellow in their par- 
ish who taught a grammar-school/ which he had the 
assurance to call my academy, '-as he supposed without 
any license from the bishop ; ? and ordered them, there- 
fore, to examine whether I had such a license, and if 
I had not, to present me, so that I might be prosecuted 
according to law. 

" Considering the great decency and candor with 
which the chancellor and several of his family have 
been pleased to use my name and character in a great 
variety of companies, I should have wondered at the 
contemptuous style, and indeed, my lord, I had almost 
said brutal rudeness, of some of this language, had I 
not well known that where the spirit of the ecclesias- 



212 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

tic begins, the politeness of the gentleman and the 
moderation of the Christian must of course end. 
1 JYon bene conveniunt, nee in una sede inveniunturJ* 
But arms of this kind hurt the person against whom 
they are levelled as little as they honor him by whom 
they are used ; nor am I at all concerned about them. 
The question here is not how far the decency and 
moderation, but the law of these spiritual men will 
extend. 

"Your lordship knows that 'this fellow/ who has 
the honor of being Lord Halifax's most humble ser- 
vant as faithfully as this chancellor or any of his 
courtiers, has been and is trusted by many of the most 
considerable persons among the Dissenters, under a 
public character ; and has in his hands the education 
of several gentlemen intended for the learned pro- 
fessions, who have finished their studies at grammar- 
schools ; and perhaps you may have heard that a so- 
ciety of the principal dissenting ministers and other 
gentlemen in London, has favored me with a pecul- 
iar token of respect, never before extended to any 
tutor in the country, by making me a grant towards 
the expense of an apparatus for lectures on experi- 
mental philosophy, out of the public monies deposited 
in their hands. I hope, therefore, I may without van- 
ity say, that I can reasonably expect the countenance 
and support of a considerable number of persons, if 
I am prosecuted as a dissenting tutor. Nor can I 
think that I am called upon to act as I might do in 
any private case, in a matter where my public charac- 

* They do not well agree, nor are found sitting in the 
same chair. 



HIS ACADEMICAL CHARGE. 273 

. ter and our common liberties are concerned, and that 
so nearly. I am determined therefore to make no 
unnecessary submission, nor to pay any compliment to 
these reverend gentlemen from which I may be le- 
gally excused, lest they should consider it as an en- 
couragement to pursue further attacks upon my breth- 
ren. What the law of England requires I will sub- 
mit to as far as I can with a safe conscience; but if 
there be any thing which it is matter of duty to con- 
test, it seems very proper, my lord, that it should be 
determined. We may then know on what ground we 
stand ; for I am sure that if we are to depend upon 
the sovereign pleasure of a bishop to license school- 
masters, or even tutors, we shall owe our best priv- 
ileges, as British subjects, to convenience and caprice, 
rather than to the law of the realm ; and, what I never 
imagined, shall be more obliged to the lenity of our 
ecclesiastical, than to the equity of our civil govern- 
ors. 

"Be it as it will, I cannot persuade myself to bear 
any unnecessary burden under the present adminis- 
tration ; nor could I ever have been attacked at a time 
when I should have been more sanguine of meeting 
with just protection. The kindest things imaginable 
have been lately said of the Dissenters by public 
writers, who are apparently under the direction of 
the ministry ; and I believe the government, as it is 
now happily settled and administered, will find the 
Dissenters as firm and warm in its support as they 
have ever been. I am sure, my lord, I am here la- 
boring to the utmost to engage all within my influ- 
ence to be good subjects ; and indeed things appear 

12* 



2U PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

much more favorable than they did when I had the 
honor of writing to your lordship last. In the mean 
time, it would be both weak and ungrateful for us to 
question the readiness of the court to do us not only 
justice but favor ; for to leave us a prey to our en- 
emies would be to add force to its own. 

"When I write thus, my lord, it is not to screen 
myself from any thing the law requires, but only to 
make way for my first petition to your lordship, which 
is, that you would please to inform me, as soon as you 
conveniently can, whether, as things at present stand, 
it be necessary for me to ask a license ; and if so, on 
what terms I may demand it. I bless God I have noth- 
ing to fear as to my ministerial character ; and I hope 
I shall endeavor to preserve it by a steadiness and 
decency of conduct in this affair. 

"I would give the kind and generous Lord Halifax 
no trouble I could properly avoid : when I considered 
how zealously he had always asserted our liberties, I 
thought he had an undoubted right to know what is 
now passing ; and I flatter myself so far as to believe, 
that as the natural greatness of your lordship's soul 
inclines you to protect the meanest of your country- 
men from injury and oppression, so the friendship with 
which you are pleased to honor me, will give you a 
peculiar pleasure in assisting, 

" My lord, your lordship's most faithful and obliged 
humble servant, 

"PHILIP DODDRIDGE." 

The next letter states the matter more fully, being 
written to his earnest friend the Rev. John Barker. 



HIS ACADEMICAL CHARGE. 2T5 

" November 25, 1733. 
"I must beg leave to mention to you an affair, 
which, though it be immediately my personal con- 
cern, is not only mine, and of which it is probable 
you may already have heard: I mean my prosecution 
before the spiritual court. The chancellor of our 
diocese promoted it, as he acknowledged, not out of 
any ill will to me as a Dissenter, but purely to es- 
tablish and vindicate the authority of the court where 
he presides. Nothing has yet been done in a public 
way, more than admonishing me to appear to receive 
articles which are to be exhibited against me next 
court day. He has, however, done me the honor to 
send for me in private, and treated me with abun- 
dance of complaisance. He complains of it as a failure 
in due respect to himself as chancellor, that I have 
taught the gentlemen under my care without applying 
to him for a license ; and now, not to tire you with a 
long detail of particulars, he desires me, within a few 
days, to give him a positive answer to this one ques- 
tion : whether I will take up a license, if it be offered 
me on terms consistent with my religious principles 
as a Dissenter ; that is, by resubscribing to the arti- 
cles I have already subscribed as a teacher, taking 
the oath to the government, and submitting my char- 
acter and abilities to teach to his examination. To 
qualify the last part of the proposal, he was pleased 
to say that he was so well satisfied with both as to 
engage not to give me the least trouble by disputing 
either. This might seem a very easy way of ending 
the affair ; though he adds, at the same time, that he 
is not sure that he can offer me a license on these 



2T6 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

terms, because the Act of Toleration does not express- 
ly repeal a clause in the Act of Uniformity, which 
requires much harder things. The wisest persons I 
have yet consulted, both in town and country, look 
upon this proceeding as a very artful scheme to bring 
us under ecclesiastical inspection more than we have 
ever yet been ; and they think, as I do, that it is trust- 
ing our academies and schools to the impartiality of a 
party which has not always shown the nicest honor, 
not to touch upon its integrity. 

"I perceive that a general alarm is taken; and I 
have had letters from the most distant parts of Eng- 
land, to entreat that I would make no submission, nor 
accept of a license on any terms, until the matter has 
been brought before a civil court and it has been 
there declared necessary that I should do it. I con- 
fess, sir, that this advice is very agreeable both to my 
own inclination and judgment, for we know the worst 
that can occur. The government has hitherto pro- 
tected us ; and we cannot imagine that we have yet 
received the last favors it would grant, and that we 
shall now be given up to our enemies, on a point 
where our common rights, as British subjects, are so 
evidently concerned. People of the best sense, among 
very different parties, are amazed at the conduct of 
Doctor Reynolds at such a juncture ; and several gen- 
tlemen of the Established church, of considerable rank 
and in public estimation, have warmly acknowledged 
their disapprobation of the whole proceeding, and 
have advised me to stand it out to the utmost; nay, 
the very person in whose name the measure is to be 
carried on, came to assure me of his abhorrence of 



HIS ACADEMICAL CHARGE. 277 

the step, and to know, before it commenced, whether 
he could, with safety to himself, being now a church- 
warden, refuse to sign the presentment, or, in any 
other circumstance, make the matter easier to me. 

" On the whole, sir, I would not be so unjust to my- 
self, aud to that generous and condescending friend- 
ship with which you are pleased to honor me, as to 
come to any determination in this matter until I had 
consulted you. I beg you will please to communicate 
the contents of this letter, with my most humble ser- 
vices, to Doctors Harris, Wright, and Watts, and to 
any other gentleman, whether of the ministry or laity, 
to whom you may think it proper ; so that in an affair 
in which all are concerned, we may, as far as possible, 
act on united counsels. 

" The question with me is not, for a moment, what 
will be my easiest way out of this trouble, but by what 
line of conduct I may most effectually serve that cause 
of liberty and truth to which I hope I shall always 
be ready to sacrifice my personal ease and advan- 
tage; sentiments in which I am sure you heartily 
concur." 

From the Rev. John Barker. 

" Hackney, Dec. 29, 1733. 
"I laid your last letters before Mr. Jacob, who 
has consulted with Mr. Holden about them, and they 
are come to a resolution to employ Mr. Marry att, as 
you desire, in this affair. I am glad the gentlemen 
round about you have interested themselves in your 
cause, to get you satisfaction for the violent assault 
made upon your house. I hope good may come out 
of this evil. I saw the account of it in the newspa- 



218 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

per, and I think it well drawn up. As to your letter 
to the chancellor, I find no objection to it : I expect 
the matter is now too far gone to expect a dismission ; 
though if, after all, the chancellor should himself offer 
to dismiss it, doubtless you should advise with your 
friends here before you refuse it; but I think you 
should by no means ask it of him, nor do I see that 
you can now do so. 

" I hope God will give you courage, and find you 
friends, and keep up your spirits, and prolong your 
life and usefulness." 

To Doctor Reynolds. 

"December 29, 1733. 

"Reverend Sir — The proposal you were pleased 
to make to me was judged so important by the gentle- 
men in London to whom I communicated it, that they 
thought it proper to lay it before the whole body of 
ministers, and other gentlemen of our persuasion, at 
one of their public meetings ; and also to consult some 
of the most eminent counsellors in England on the 
occasion. This prevented my receiving a determinate 
and complete answer till last night. And now, sir, I 
can tell you that, after the most deliberate considera- 
tion, they unanimously agree that it is not proper or 
advisable for me to take up a license on any terms 
whatsoever, until the cause has been brought before a 
civil court of judicature. 

"I thought it my duty, sir, to give you this infor- 
mation immediately, and shall, according to the order, 
attend next Tuesday to receive articles of accusation, 
or a dismission, as you, sir, upon the whole, may think 
most proper. I am told that other prosecutions of the 



HIS ACADEMICAL CHARGE. 279 

same kind are now on foot, and as this is apprehended 
to be one of the most important, and there are some 
peculiar circumstances attending it, there is no cause 
in which we had rather the rights of an ecclesiastical 
court on the one hand, and the freedom of dissenting 
academies on the other, should be fully, and, as we 
hope, very amicably discussed. When the question is 
determined, if I am required to submit, as it is very 
possible I may be, I shall do it with so much the 
greater cheerfulness as I am concerned with a gen- 
tleman of Dr. Reynolds' politeness ; and you will then, 
sir, have convincing evidence that as I should be heart- 
ily glad of any opportunity of serving you, so I shall 
willingly and gratefully receive any personal compli- 
ment you may please to confer upon me, though I can- 
not ask the dismission of my case, since, however kind- 
ly you might intend it, I cannot think it would be of 
any advantage to that interest in which I have the 
honor and happiness of being engaged. 

"I heartily thank you for all the civilities with 
which you have been pleased to treat me in this af- 
fair, and am, with due respect, reverend sir, 

"Your most obedient humble servant, 

"PHILIP DODDRIDGE." 

To Mrs. Doddridge. 

"London, Jan. 31, 1734. 
"I am just come from Westminster Hall, where 
our cause was gained without any opposition worth 
naming. The judges ordered a prohibition to be 
issued, which secures me from all further trouble. 
For form's sake, their counsel moved that our sugges- 
tion might be turned into a declaration, to which they 



280 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

may, if they please, put in an answer, and so bring the 
cause to a further trial. This I fear they will not do. 
If they should, we shall certainly recover costs. But 
if they go on to give us trouble in other cases, we 
must try our strength in parliament. The attorney- 
general offered his service, being solicited by Lord 
Halifax, according to my desire, to undertake the 
affair. Things could not indeed have been carried in 
an easier manner. 

" Give my most kind, affectionate, and grateful ser- 
vices to my friends at Northampton, and tell them that 
it is fit I should sometimes go to London, that I may 
know how happy I am with them." 

From the Rev. Samuel Ward. 

"Bishop Stratford, March 16, 1734. 

% I hope you will readily excuse the freedom of a 
stranger, in presuming to congratulate you on your 
late happy deliverance from the fury of an ungovern- 
able mob, and in having been so successful as to find 
out some of the ringleaders in the riot. 

" Since indeed you have met with such rude treat- 
ment, I must say that I am glad that the world is 
acquainted with it, and doubt not that it will be of 
singular service in the present juncture. I met with 
the story yesterday in one of the papers ; and hope, 
by this time, your late visitors have taken it into their 
heads to grow milder. I observe in that relation there 
is a mention made of your being under a prosecution 
in the Spiritual court, for keeping an academy without 
a license. It is no agreeable place to be in, I can as- 
sure you upon my own experience ; and yet not so ter- 
rible as some are ready to imagine, that is, if those 



HIS ACADEMICAL CHARGE. 281 

who are obliged to have dealings there take heed to 
their steps. I have been twice in their clutches for 
keeping a school without a license ; but, upon appli- 
cation to counsel, was put into a successful method of 
escape. 

"Whether you have yet appeared among them, or 
what progress you have made, I know not; but I 
heartily wish you may have, nor do I much question 
your meeting with a good deliverance out of their 
hands." 

The method of education pursued by Dr. Dod- 
dridge is very minutely and clearly detailed by the 
Rev. Job Orton, the substance of whose account of 
the matter will here be given. 

He chose to introduce into his own family as many 
of his students as his house could accommodate, that 
they might enjoy the benefit of a more constant super- 
vision and control. In the exercise of government 
he observed a due medium between the rigor of school 
discipline and unlimited indulgence. Every student 
was obliged to rise at six in the summer, and at seven 
in the winter, soon after which they assembled for 
prayers. These were conducted either by the doctor 
himself, who was usually present, or by one of the 
students in turn. Then they retired to their study- 
rooms, and remained till the hour for family worship. 
The doctor began that service with a short prayer 
invoking the divine blessing. Some of the students 
then read a chapter of the Old Testament from He- 
brew into English, of which he next gave a critical 
exposition, deducing thence some practical inferences* 



282 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

After the singing of the psalm, he closed the exercises 
with prayer. The same method was pursued at the 
evening worship, with the variation that a chapter of 
the New Testament was read by the students from 
Greek into English, which was expounded by Doctor 
Doddridge, after which one of the senior students 
closed the exercises with prayer. They who boarded 
at other houses were required to be present at these 
seasons of morning and evening worship, and also to 
conduct family worship in the houses where they 
lived. Absence subjected to a fine, and if frequent, 
to public censure before the students. By this meth- 
od of conducting the religious services of the house- 
hold, the students had the opportunity, during their 
academic course, of hearing an exposition of most of 
the Old Testament, and all of the New Testament, 
more than once. They were advised also to take 
notes of what was said at such times, and to preserve 
them for future use. The Family Expositor bears 
full evidence of the value of the expositions with 
which they were favored. 

Soon after breakfast the several classes in order 
attended upon Dr. Doddridge, and a lecture of an 
hour in length was delivered to them. The afternoon 
he devoted to private study and pastoral visits. 
After the year 1734 the number of his students was 
so increased, that he employed an assistant, to whose 
care the junior students were intrusted, and the direc- 
tion of the academy when Dr. Doddridge was absent 
from home. 

It deserves mention that one of the first things 
to which his students were required to attend, was to 



HIS ACADEMICAL CHARGE. 283 

learn Rich/s shorthand, which he wrote himself, and 
in which he was accustomed to write his own lecttires 
and sermons. The acquiring of this art furnished the 
students with a ready means of making extracts from 
the books they read and consulted, and saved much 
time in writing their own preparations. 

During the first year of the course the attain- 
ments made at school in Latin and Greek were pur- 
sued and advanced, while such knowledge of the 
Hebrew was added, if not previously acquired, as 
should enable them to read the Old Testament in 
that language. For this purpose, besides the course 
of lectures in the morning on other subjects, classical 
lectures were delivered every evening, generally by 
the assistant teacher. Students deficient in Greek were 
instructed by some senior student. The French lan- 
guage was also taught to those who desired to learn 
it. Systems of logic, rhetoric, geography, and meta- 
physics were read during the first year, reference 
being made to other authors whom the students were 
expected to consult. Lectures on geometry and alge- 
bra were read, and instruction given in trigonometry, 
conic sections, and celestial mechanics. A system of 
natural philosophy was read, illustrated by experi- 
ments, for which the academy was furnished with 
ample apparatus, partly the gift of scientific friends, 
and partly the purchase of small contributions made 
by each student when he entered on this department 
of study. History, natural and civil, a full system of 
Jewish antiquities, and the anatomy of the human 
frame, were also among the branches which they pur- 
sued. 



284 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

But theology, in its widest range, embracing eth- 
ics, and what was then styled pneumatology, was the 
grand object of investigation. Dr. Doddridge pre- 
pared a concise but elaborate course of instruction in 
this department. It was simply a compendium, ar- 
ranged into propositions or problems; into scholia, 
which contained the points of controversy ; and these 
were followed by copious references to the best au- 
thors, and large extracts in illustration of each sub- 
ject discussed in the propositions and scholia. It 
was the duty of the student, in the intervals of the 
two or three lectures read from his compendium each 
week, to read and abridge the references which it fur- 
nished. The compendium itself was subsequently 
transcribed by the students, but after the author's 
death it was published. 

Besides the expositions of Scripture at the season 
of family worship, critical lectures on the New Testa- 
ment were delivered weekly, which the students were 
allowed to transcribe. Portions of these lectures 
were transferred to the pages of the Family Exposi- 
tor. The study of polite literature was encouraged, 
but especial prominence was given to the critical and 
experimental study of the sacred Scriptures, as the 
grand source of improvement, and of human happi- 
ness. 

In the last year of the course, lectures were de- 
livered on preaching, and the pastoral care, which 
have been published, and deserve a wider use than 
they have gained in our own country. No one can 
read Dr. Doddridge's lecture on ' The Evil of Neglect- 
ing Souls/ without the conviction that few men have 



HIS ACADEMICAL CHARGE. 285 

ever taught with more elevated and impressive views 
of the greatness, solemnity, and importance of the 
pastor's work. It may be added, that lectures were 
also given on civil law, on the mythology of the an- 
cients, and on English history, particularly the his- 
tory of non-conformity, and the principles on which 
a separation from the church of England was based. 

Public exercises occupied one day of each week, 
consisting of translations and orations read by the 
junior students, and examined — of theses on subjects 
of pneumatology and ethics, which were alternately 
opposed and defended — of orations, by more advanced 
students, on the natural and moral perfections of God 
and the several branches of moral virtue ; and on the 
part of the senior students, of analyses of Scripture, 
schemes of sermons, and full sermons, which were 
submitted to the examination and correction of Dr. 
Doddridge. In this latter part of official duty, he was 
eminently exact and thorough, yet kind and courteous, 
regarding his remarks on the compositions of his stu- 
dents as more valuable to them than any general rules 
that could be given. His remarks included the sug- 
gestion of subordinate thoughts, references to appro- 
priate passages of Scripture that might have been 
with advantage introduced, the retrenchment of super- 
fluous words or irrelevant matter, and the supply of 
what was wanting in the composition of the dis- 
course. 

He sought, during the entire range of study, to 
furnish every week as great a variety of lectures as 
might entertain and yet not distract the minds of the 
students. He assigned to them as large an amount 



286 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

of reading as they could well perform between the 
lectures, allowing sufficient time, however, for relaxa- 
tion and the perusal of practical religious works. It 
was an important counsel, on which he greatly insist- 
ed, to read in some of these each day, but on the Lord's 
day especially. He often asserted that the neglect 
of such writers argued a great defect of understand- 
ing, as well as of earnest piety. 

Often did he take pains to examine the books 
which they read, exclusive of those referred to in the 
lectures ; and called their attention to such as seemed 
to him best adapted to their age, capacities, and in* 
tended profession, for not all of his students had in 
view the sacred ministry. This advice was the more 
available, as the doctor's library, to which they had 
access, embraced several thousand volumes, derived 
from his private purchases, the donations of libera] 
friends, and the small contributions of each student 
for the purpose of enlarging the collection. Dr. Dod* 
dridge, under the impression that a larger library 
might prove injurious rather than beneficial, unless a 
wise choice were made of the books read by the stu» 
dents, sometimes gave them lectures on the books 
contained in the library, taking the various shelves 
in order, stating the character of each book, and of 
its author, so far as known, informing them at what 
period of the course, and with what special views par- 
ticular books might be read to the best advantage; 
and also designating the books that would contribute 
most to furnish them for the demands that would be 
made upon them in public life. Some of his students 
have referred to these lectures as eminently instruc- 



HIS ACADEMICAL CHARGE. 287 

tive and entertaining at the time, and greatly useful 
when they had entered on the work of the ministry. 

His manner of lecturing on all subjects was well 
adapted to engage attention, to promote diligent 
investigation, and to secure an intelligent comprehen- 
sion of the subjects to which they were severally 
devoted. Upon assembling the class, he examined 
them upon the contents of the previous lecture; he 
sought to ascertain whether they understood his rea- 
soning; whether they had learned what the authors 
referred to had said upon the subject; whether he 
had himself furnished a just view of the sentiments, 
arguments, or objections of these authors, or had omit- 
ted any that were important. He called upon them 
for a statement of the demonstrations, scriptures, or 
facts, embraced in the lectures and references. He 
encouraged his students to propose any objections 
which might arise in their own minds, or which the 
authors read had suggested, and which the lecture, in 
their judgment, had failed to solve. He desired them, 
also, to point out any misapplication of texts of Scrip- 
ture, or any wrong deductions, if they had discovered 
such, and to propose others which might serve either 
to confirm or contradict what the lecture had ad- 
vanced. If at any time frivolous or impertinent 
objections were, under these circumstances, brought 
forward, he gave them a patient hearing, and a mild 
reply. 

He was anxious to have his lectures and the 
illustrations employed thoroughly understood, and 
hence to hold perfectly the attention of the students, 
he often proposed questions upon what he had been 



288 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

reading. He assumed no magisterial airs, but ad- 
dressed them with the kindness and familiarity of a 
father. He disclaimed the desire to have them adopt 
his sentiments implicitly; but on the other hand, 
enjoined on them to judge for themselves, only en- 
deavoring clearly to set forth the truth on all subjects, 
as he apprehended it, together with the objections 
that might be urged against it. He candidly brought 
to view the difficulties connected with the questions 
he discussed, and referred his students to writers on 
both sides impartially. He insisted upon their found- 
ing their theological sentiments upon the word of 
God, and not upon the teaching of any man, or any 
body of men. Hence the Bible was constantly made 
the standard of appeal, and was carefully and rever- 
ently consulted. He was exceedingly opposed to all 
bigotry and uncharitableness, and sought carefully to 
check such dispositions by showing how much might 
be said in defence of opinions deemed erroneous, and 
by referring to the great learning and fair character 
of many who had advocated such opinions. He par- 
ticularly discouraged a haughty and supercilious mode 
of writing or speaking, displaying itself in ridicule 
and satire against the infirmities of plain, serious 
Christians, or the labors of earnest ministers, who 
condescended to adapt themselves to persons of mean 
capacity, for the purpose of securing their conversion. 
He made it his constant aim to impart to his 
students just ai^d sublime views of the sacred office 
for which they were preparing, and to lead them to 
make all their reading and study contribute to furnish 
and qualify them for it. He sought to imbue them 



HIS ACADEMICAL CHARGE. 289 

with the deep conviction that the salvation of one 
soul was of infinitely greater importance than the 
ability or opportunity to charm a thousand splendid 
assemblies with discourses of the greatest elegance. 
He frequently insisted on the necessity of preaching 
much concerning Christ and the Holy Spirit ; and of 
subjecting their own hearts to the energy of gospel 
truths, so that their discourses might be unaffected 
and impressive. 

\ 

We may better judge of his solemn earnestness 
in attaining these ends, by reading an extract from 
one of his able discourses to ministers : 

" I hope, sirs, we have the testimony of our own 
consciences before God, that we do not, on these sol- 
emn occasions, content ourselves with cold essays on 
mere moral subjects, however acute, philosophical, or 
polite ; nor make it our main business in our sermons 
to seek the ornament and the elegance of words, the 
refinements of criticism, or the nice arrangement of 
various complex and abstruse argumentations. When 
we speak, in the name and presence of God, to immor- 
tal creatures on the borders of eternity, I hope we 
entertain our hearers with plain, serious, and lively 
discourses on the most important doctrines of Chris- 
tianity, in their due connection and relation to each 
other, in such a manner as we, on mature considera- 
tion, do verily believe may have the most effectual 
tendency to bring them to God through Christ, and 
to produce and promote in their hearts, through the 
divine blessing, the great work of regeneration and 
holiness. I hope and trust that God is our witness, 

Doddridge, 1 3 



290 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

and that the people of our charge are witnesses, that 
not one of those who diligently attend on our minis- 
try, though but for a few succeeding Sabbaths, can 
fail to learn the way of salvation as exhibited in the 
gospel; and that we speak of it as those that are in 
earnest, and do, from our very souls, desire to answer 
the great ends of our ministry, in the prosperity oi 
the Redeemer's kingdom, and the eternal happiness 
of those invaluable souls whom he has committed to 
our care. Otherwise we may incur great and fatal 
guilt, though public worship be constantly and decent- 
ly carried on, and though a reasonable proportion of 
time be employed in it, with numerous and attentive 
auditories, to whom we may be as the lovely song of 
one that has a pleasant voice, while, in the ears of 
God, for want of that fervent charity which should 
dictate and animate all, we are but as sounding brass, 
or as a tinkling cymbal." 

It was a great care of Dr. Doddridge to make 
his students experimental preachers; and for this 
purpose he led them into an acquaintance with the 
various exercises of the human soul under the influ- 
ence of religious truths, by recommending to their 
daily perusal the best practical writers, and the faith- 
ful observation of the workings of their own hearts. 
He encouraged them to think and write and speak 
much on subjects connected with experimental relig- 
ion. At times he took some of his students with him 
when he went to visit persons who were deeply exer- 
cised in religious matters, or to visit the sick and the 
dying, that they might observe his method of conver- 



HIS ACADEMICAL CHARGE. 291 

sation and prayer under circumstances like these, and 
have their own hearts affected by such solemn scenes. 
To improve their religious experience, he also intro- 
duced them to some serious but plain members of his 
church, so that the knowledge thus gained of their 
hidden worth and large acquaintance with religion, 
and the hearing of their observations respecting the 
character and labors of deceased ministers, might 
improve the hearts of his students, and produce in 
them a deeper respect for the members of the com- 
munity at large. He often cautioned them not to 
despise the common people, nor to think that the 
habit of condescension to them was unworthy of the 
dignity of a scholar. He admonished them not to 
refuse the charge of a congregation, to which they 
might be useful, because it contained few or none of 
the wealthy and highly educated and polite; but to 
labor to improve the understandings of their hearers, 
and to associate with plain people, assuring them, as 
the result of his own observation and happy expe- 
rience, that plain, serious Christians are often the most 
steadfast and affectionate friends of the pastor, and 
his greatest joy. He urged them to study closely the 
temper and capacities of their hearers, so as to render 
themselves agreeable to them in their public ministra- 
tions and private intercourse, as far as conscience and 
honor would allow. 

At the same time he did not neglect to prepaxe 
them, as well as he could, for appearing to advantage 
in polite and literary circles. He not only led them 
through a course of refined and elegant literature, 
but endeavored to give refinement, affability, and 



292 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

polish to their manners and address, by maintaining 
in his own family the most exact decorum, and taking 
due notice of all departures from it. He bestowed 
great care also upon their way of speaking, their pro- 
nunciation, tones, gestures, and general demeanor. 

Some excellent observations from his pen upon 
the place that literature and science should hold 
among the pursuits of the pastor, and the degree of 
elegance that may properly be endeavored and dis- 
played in pulpit compositions, should not be here 
omitted. He remarks : 

" I have had some little taste of the pleasures of 
literature myself, and have some reason to hope that 
I shall not be suspected of any prejudice against it; 
nor am I at all inclined to pass those contemptuous 
censures on the various branches of it, in which igno- 
rance and sloth are often, with strange stupidity, or 
with yet stranger assurance, seeking, and it may be 
finding a refuge. But I must freely say, that I fear 
many things which employ a very large portion of 
our retired time, are studied rather as polite amuse- 
ments to our own minds than as things which seem to 
have any apparent subserviency to the glory of God, 
and the edification of our flock. 

" Let me here in particular address myself to my 
younger brethren with a frankness which may be to 
them more excusable, while I urge them to a Christian 
self-denial upon this head, where perhaps it may be, of 
all others, the most difficult. I do not apprehend per- 
sons of your approved character to be in danger of 
any other kind of luxury and intemperance ; but there 



HIS ACADEMICAL CHARGE. 293 

is, if you will permit me so to call it, a sort of refined 
intellectual luxury, with regard to which I am jealous 
over you, lest you should be seduced into it. 

" I would not, my young friends, be so severe and 
cruel as to desire you should be confined from that 
high and elegant entertainment which a person of 
genius and taste will find in the masterly writings of 
the ancient orators, historians, and poets ; or in those 
polite and elegant pieces which our own and other 
modern languages may afford; from which the wise 
man and the Christian will learn many things of solid 
use, as well as matters of most delightful amusement. 
Neither would I pretend to forbid some mathematical 
and philosophical researches into which you are initi- 
ated in your academical course, and with which you 
will do well to retain and improve your acquaintance 
in the progress of life; both to strengthen your 
rational faculties by that strenuous exercise, and to 
improve your knowledge of the works of God, which 
will appear great, wonderful, and delightful, in pro- 
portion to the degree of sagacity and diligence with 
which they may be searched out. But it is one thing 
to taste of those poignant and luscious fruits, and 
another to feed and live upon them ; one thing to make 
the most noble and substantial parts of them our enter- 
tainment and refreshment, and quite another to make 
their circumstantial curiosities the chief business of 
our study, and the favorite subjects of our most atten- 
tive inquiry. That true greatness and elevation of 
mind which the gospel is so admirably adapted to 
produce, would teach us a sublime science ; and if for 
the sake of these little things we neglect to pray for 



294 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

those whom God hath committed to our care, to in- 
quire into their religious state, to pursue them with 
suitable applications and addresses, the time will 
come when we shall assuredly own that we dearly- 
purchased the most refined pleasures they could pos- 
sibly give us ; not to say how much greater and nobler 
pleasure we even now resign, while our duty is neg- 
lected. 

" Nor am I without my fears that a great deal of 
studious time is lost in an over-artful composition of 
sermons, and in giving them such polish and ornament 
as does not conduce to their usefulness, nor any way 
balance the labor employed in the work. If we do 
not diligently watch our own hearts, this will be an 
incense offered to our own vanity, which will render 
our sacrifice less acceptable to God, however we and 
our hearers may be delighted with the perfume. 
Greater plainness and simplicity of speech might 
often be more useful to the bulk of our auditory, and 
perhaps more acceptable too; and on the whole, it 
might be at least equally beautiful; for all that are 
not children in understanding know that there is a 
natural and manly kind of eloquence, arising from a 
deep sense of the subject, and an ardent love to the 
souls of our hearers, which is of all others the most 
to be desired and esteemed. And though such dis- 
courses may be attended with some little inaccuracies, 
surely where a habit of speaking is formed by proper 
application, and the materials of a sermon are well 
digested in the mind, it will rise above contempt. 
And if, where more exact preparation is made, a care 
to preserve those niceties of composition deaden the 






HIS ACADEMICAL CHARGE. 295 

manner of the delivery, and take off either its solem- 
nity, its vigor, or its tenderness, I cannot but appre- 
hend it to be as injurious to the character of the ora- 
tor as to that of the Christian. The most celebrated 
speakers in judicial courts and in senates have, in 
all nations and ages, pursued the method I now recom- 
mend ; and the most acceptable preachers have suc- 
cessfully attempted it. On the whole, permit me to 
say it would be a fatal thing to barter away the souls 
of our people for the highest reputation of speaking 
well ; yet I fear there are many who in this view do 
it for naught, and have not in any sense increased 
their wealth by the price. Psa. 44: 12." 

The senior students, before they began to preach 
their own sermons, were encouraged by Dr. Dod- 
dridge to visit, on the Lord's day evenings, the neigh- 
boring villages and hold meetings for religious wor- 
ship in some licensed houses. Two of them usually 
went together; a plain sermon on some practical 
subject was read, and one of them prayed before, and 
the other after it, accompanied with singing. By 
this laudable practice the students gained assurance 
in conducting a public exercise, and rendered them- 
selves highly useful before they were prepared to 
preach. They also learned the habit of conversing 
with serious people on the subject of religion, as some 
of these generally remained for this purpose after the 
dismission of the assembly. 

It was a great advantage to the students that 
the doctor allowed them, as often as other business 
would permit, to have access to him privately in his 



296 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

study, for the purpose of asking advice, or of obtain- 
ing an explanation of difficulties which they had met 
with in their reading, or in the lectures. He was 
ready to communicate his views of the meaning of 
any passages of Scripture which they were unable to 
explain, and he turned to their advantage every such 
private interview. Even at meals he often inquired 
of each one in order what they had been reading, or 
what texts they had, according to his general direc- 
tion, chosen that day for pious meditation, and from 
such texts he drew practical reflections deserving of 
a place in their remembrance. 

Thus it is seen what great pains he took to pre- 
pare all his students for usefulness, whether they had 
the ministry, or some other station in view. Those 
who were intended for trade, he often counselled not 
to be so fond of books as to neglect a proper applica- 
tion to their future business ; and he often suggested 
important maxims, by a regard to which they might 
conduct their business with honor and success, and at 
the same time improve their moral and religious 
character. 

His chief care, and what he regarded as essential 
to their highest usefulness, was that they might be, 
and appear to be, good men. Hence the strictest vig- 
ilance was exercised over their behavior out of the 
hours of study and of lecture. Inquiries were made 
of them, and of others, what houses they frequented, 
what company they kept, what character they sus- 
tained. Upon discovering any irregularity of con- 
duct, or yielding to temptation, a private admonition 
was seriously and affectionately administered, some- 



HIS ACADEMICAL CHARGE. 297 

times accompanied by prayer with and for them. If 
private admonition failed to reclaim the offender, a 
public one before the school at family worship was 
added ; and if this did not secure reform, the sentence 
of expulsion was pronounced. 

The tenderness and conscientiousness of Dr. Dod- 
dridge upon such occasions will appear from a record 
in his diary : " A very melancholy scene opened this 
day. We had some time spent in fasting and prayer, 
on account of an unhappy youth, whose folly and wick- 
edness have obliged me to dismiss him. I pronounced 
the solemn sentence of expulsion upon him before the 
whole academy. I thank God I was carried through 
this sad work with spirit ; yet greatly afflicted to see 
all I had endeavored to do for his good thrown away 
upon him. I had an opportunity of seeing in him the 
treachery of the human heart, the necessity of keeping 
near to God, and the tendency of bad practices to cor- 
rupt the principles of a man : God has exercised me 
in this instance with great trouble and disappoint- 
ment; but 'the disciple is not above his Master. 7 
Lord, may I approve my sincerity and zeal in thy 
sight, though it should be in every instance unsuccess- 
ful. Let me but hear thee saying, * Well done, good 
and faithful servant/ and none can hinder my joy." 
But we are told that it pleased God so to succeed 
his pious care, that there were very few instances in 
which he was obliged to have recourse to so painful 
an expedient to secure the honor of his family and 
the safety of his other pupils. 

It is pleasing, on the other hand, to find in his di- 
ary the record which he makes, when one of quite a 

13* 



298 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

different class of students is the subject of remark. 
Thus at the beginning of 1747, he writes, "Nor must 
I reckon among the smallest of my mercies the oppor- 
tunities I have had of seeing how eminently He has 
blessed the labors of good Mr. Fawcett, and with what 
abundant anointing of the Holy Spirit God has been 
pleased to honor him ; in consequence of which I can 
truly say, I should think all my labors as a tutor well 
repaid to have been instrumental in raising up but one 
such person to the service of the sanctuary." 

A letter or two may here be properly introduced 
to illustrate the polite, benignant, and judicious man- 
ner in which he was accustomed to make parents 
acquainted with the conduct of their sons, especially 
when he could not entirely commend it. 

To Mrs. Wilkinson. 

"September3, 1731. 
"As for my dear pupil, your son, I have an increas- 
ing satisfaction in him. He has now, madam, as you 
well know, been with me more than half a year, and 
in all that time I have never heard a word uttered by 
him which I could blame. Genius, diligence, discre- 
tion, modesty, and good-humor discover themselves in 
the whole course of his studies and conversation. I 
would not flatter you on this occasion, or on any 
other ; but I think that this is a satisfaction which I 
owe you; and I assure you that he is so dear to me 
that tears of pleasure are rising in my eyes while I 
am writing this account of him. I have often been 
inviting him to the table of our Lord; and though, 
from the great tenderness of his spirit, he has labored 



HIS ACADEMICAL CHARGE. 299 

under some discouragement, I hope I shall shortly 
meet him there, and doubt not that he will be a wel- 
come guest. 

" My sincere friendship for so agreeable a corre- 
spondent as his good mother, engages me doubly to 
rejoice in these promising appearances in one for 
whom she is so deeply concerned ; and if you will do 
us the favor of coming and spending a few weeks with 
us, my wife, who sends her very humble services, will 
wait upon you with a great deal of pleasure. We 
will use you with as much freedom as if you were one 
of our own family ; and you may assure yourself of a 
hearty welcome." 

To Greorge Pembroke, Esq. 

"Northampton, Nov. 15, 1732. 

"I intend so quickly to do myself the honor and 
pleasure of waiting upon you at St. Albans, that it 
appears unnecessary to write you largely at present ; 
and yet I would not neglect this opportunity of offer- 
ing you my thanks for your kind invitation, and all 
your other favors. 

"I hope your son will return home with some im- 
provement. I can faithfully say that I have endeav- 
ored to fulfil my duty towards him ; and you know, 
sir, the inconstancy of a young mind, and how hard it 
is to mould it into a due course of laborious applica- 
tion, especially when there is a quickness of genius, 
and a readiness of apprehension, which, as it is in many 
instances a glory and a happiness, is in some a temp- 
tation to frivolous amusement. I think myself bound 
to speak plainly with you in regard to your son's char- 
acter in this point, and so much the rather, as it is 



300 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

principally from your influence upon him that I prom- 
ise myself the reformation of some things which I can- 
not praise, though I can bear with them. 

"In the mean time, sir, I content myself with tell- 
ing you that there is nothing grossly amiss ; and as I 
have not a pupil under my care who treats me with 
more filial regard, so I can truly say, that there is not 
one for whom I have a more paternal tenderness. 
As I desire to preserve my share in his friendship 
and affection, in order to serve him with the greater 
advantage, I desire that you would conceal from him 
any thing in this letter which might give him suspi- 
cion ; and that you would not look the less kindly upon 
him from any thing you have now read. I know how 
much he fears your frown, and would by no means be 
instrumental in giving him one moment's uneasiness, 
further than is absolutely necessary for his own future 
honor and advantage." 

The student thus referred to, after being some 
years at the academy, entered at the temple, was ad- 
mitted to the bar, and settled at St. Albans, where he 
sustained a high professional reputation. 

In the year 1734 an important matter came under 
the consideration of Dr. Doddridge, the consequences 
of which will extend to the end of time. A Mr. Cow- 
ard, a wealthy London merchant, retired from busi- 
ness and settled at Walthamstow, a beautiful village a 
few miles from that city, in the stately seclusion of 
Epping Forest, where, through the attractions of a 
popular minister, the Dissenters soon became numer- 
ous. This old English gentleman was so peculiar in 
his manners, that he closed the doors of his house at 



HIS ACADEMICAL CHARGE. 301 

six o'clock in the evening in winter, and at seven in 
the summer, after which no person, however urgent, 
could obtain admission. This gentleman devoted his 
whole time and property to the advancement of the 
cause of Christ; and determined that at his decease 
a large portion of his property should be given for the 
establishment of a college for the education of young 
ministers, selecting Doddridge, if he survived, as the 
first teacher of theology ; requiring him, however, at 
once to relinquish his charge at Northampton, and 
undertake the much smaller one at Walthamstow. 
The difficulty of Doddridge was increased by the fact 
that if he declined the offer, it would be given to a 
teacher of error. It occasioned the friends of truth 
much anxiety; the final result was somewhat of a 
change in the original plan, and the college after his 
death was established from a fund left by Mr. Coward, 
for that and other purposes, of not less than one hun- 
dred thousand dollars. After various changes, and 
more than one near escape of its falling into the 
hands of Unitarians, Coward college was merged 
with the old Homerton and Highbury colleges in 
what is now called The New college, St. John's 
Wood, London. 

"While, as before remarked, the academy of Dr. 
Doddridge embraced other students besides those de- 
signed for the Christian ministry, it would seem that 
all were educated under the highest religious culture. 
He was not satisfied with an externally regular life 
on their part, but he sought in all of them real and 
humble piety. "It is my heart's desire, and prayer 
to God," says he, "that no one may go out from me 



302 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

without an understanding enlightened from above, a 
heart sanctified by divine grace, quickened and warm- 
ed with love to Jesus, and tenderly concerned for the 
salvation of perishing souls. What are all our studies 
and pursuits to this? 77 For this purpose he endeavored 
to bring them early to Christ and into communion with 
the church, as he did in the case of young Wilkinson. 
He employed great care in instructing candidates for 
an intelligent and pious observance of the Lord's sup- 
per, and in watching over them subsequently. Or- 
dinary lectures and studies were omitted on every 
Saturday preceding the communion, and the greater 
part of it was devoted to religious exercises. All 
the students were gathered in the lecture-room ; a dis- 
course was delivered with direct bearing upon their 
circumstances, fitted either to prepare them for the 
ministry, or for the better discharge of their duties as 
Christians. On these occasions, the doctor was un- 
usually solemn and impressive, having due regard to 
the powerful future influence which so many educated 
young men were likely to exert upon the interests of 
the church and of the world. The latter part of that 
day was occupied by the students by themselves in 
devotional duties. The Lord's day was habitually 
observed by all with great strictness and care. Af- 
ter the public and domestic exercises, the laborious 
and excellent pastor invited each student separately 
into his study, for the purpose of conversation with 
him in regard to his religious state, progress, and ob- 
ligations. 

He conducted his intercourse with them in so 
paternal and benign a manner , that he secured their 



HIS ACADEMICAL CHARGE. 303 

entire confidence and affection, so that they hesitated 
not to open their hearts to him with great freedom. 
He assured them that his own happiness was depend- 
ent, in no small degree, upon their proficiency in their 
studies, exemplar iness of conduct, and eminence in 
piety. There was in fact a close and delightful sym- 
pathy established between them and him. This state 
of things was pleasantly exhibited, on the occasion of 
his receiving, in 1736, the degree of Doctor in Divin- 
ity from the two colleges in Aberdeen, in Scotland. 
His students came to him in a body to offer him their 
congratulations upon the honor thus conferred ; when, 
having politely acknowledged this manifestation of 
their respect, he stated to them that the only honor 
of which he was truly ambitious was that which they 
could themselves confer by their advancement in 
piety and learning, and their future usefulness in the 
world, circumstances which were dearer to his heart 
than any personal distinction with which he could be 
gratified. 

From a letter of Dr. Jennings, dated March 11, 
1735, it would seem that this degree had before that 
time been proffered to Doddridge, and that he had 
hesitated, for some cause, about accepting it, for Dr. 
Jennings thus writes : " As for your other affair, it 
has given no pain, but a great deal of pleasure. Sure- 
ly a person of your remarkable civility to everybody, 
will not think of putting such an unheard of affront 
upon a university, as to refuse the honor they bestow 
upon you. Dr. Guyse says you have only to thank 
them by letter, and make a small present of books to 
their library, especially your own works. And now 



304 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

I most sincerely wish you joy, or, in the expressive 
phrase of the old psalm, I wish you good luck with 
your honor." To this quotation it is pleasant to be 
able to add an extract of a letter written, on a simi- 
lar occasion, by Doddridge himself to his early and 
constant friend. 

To the Rev. Samuel Clarke, D.D. 

" Northampton, March 22, 1744. 

"Reverend and dear Doctor — Permit me to con- 
gratulate not so much you as myself on my being able 
to address you by a title which has often given me so 
much confusion in your presence. I have this evening 
been informed by a letter from Mr. Principal Camp- 
bell of Glasgow, that the university there, at the mo- 
tion of Lord Kilkerran, on the united testimony of 
Dr. Watts, Dr. Guyse, and your humble servant, had, 
a few days before, unanimously conferred upon you 
the degree of Doctor in Divinity, and that your diplo- 
ma is lodged in his cabinet till he has your direction 
how it may be sent to St. Albans. 

"I assure you, sir, my own degree did not give me 
half so much pleasure ; and I can truly say, without 
any compliment, that the title seems to have acquired 
an additional dignity by its being communicated to 
you. 

" The matter arose from a long course of observa- 
tion, which many years have furnished out, and more 
immediately from the masterly manner in which you 
maintained the cause of true religion and virtue, for 
such I thought it, against the artful sophistry of Dr. 
Akenside; on which I immediately moved the affair 
to his lordship, and it had been accomplished much 



HIS ACADEMICAL CHARGE. 305 

sooner, had not the forms at Glasgow been so pecul- 
iar. But the strictness of their scrutiny in all such 
cases, makes the degrees they confer proportionally 
honorable. I enclose a copy of the letters I trans- 
mitted from your good friends Dr. Watts and Dr. 
Guyse, and only add that I beg you will be pleased 
to accept of the fees, which 1 have discharged as a 
trifling acknowledgment of my great respect. A line 
to Lord Kilkerra.ii and Mr. Campbell will, I suppose, 
be sent of course. A present of books to the univer- 
sity library is, it seems, usual on this occasion. 

" I this day received into my academy a young gen* 
tleman of remarkable sobriety and sweetness of tem- 
per, and one who, though born to a good inheritance, 
prefers the ministry to much more gainful employ 
ments, on those principles which encourage me to 
hope he will be eminently useful in it. Indeed, the 
temper and conduct of those youths already with me, 
in concurrence with what I know of several who are 
coming, give me abundant pleasure, which is increased 
by observing a great change for the better in some 
of the young men of the congregation, whose sense 
and rank among us make them most considerable, and 
who some years, and indeed only some few months 
ago, seemed likely to prove a grief rather than joy to 
me. This, in concurrence with the delightful ac- 
counts I have from Kettering, Harborough, Apping- 
ham, and other neighboring places, as well as others 
more remote, where young gentlemen who were once 
my pupils are settled with united, large, and growing 
congregations, revives my heart with a joy which I 
cannot but communicate to such a friend, and which 



306 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

I esteem a token for good. But I tire you and tres- 
pass on my own time and business. I desire to hear 
of your recovery with solicitude." 

To the Rev. Benjamin Fawcett. 

* Northampton, Sept. 13, 1750. 

"Perhaps I should not have written to you so soon, 
if it had not been that I am just now in a crisis which 
needs your prayers ; and to whom should I go when 
I want prayer but to you, and some of my friends 
with you? for in that you are mighty men. You 
have a tender heart towards your friend on earth, 
and a great influence with the great Friend above ; 
and it is in an affair relating to His cause, that I am 
now to desire your interposition. 

" I have then to tell you, that the hand of God 
has been upon me for good in my late journey in a 
very extraordinary manner. Never did I observe 
such a coincidence of events to make my way pleas- 
ant and prosperous ; never did I perceive all my coun- 
sels more under a divine direction ; so that events 
occurred, I know not how, which I should have been 
glad to have contrived, and must then have adjusted 
with great pains and application, that they might 
have been in the state in which I found them. 

" Among other things, some of my friends, un- 
known to me, had raised a subscription for maintain- 
ing a third tutor in my academy, who, while I am 
employed in theological studies, and Mr. Clarke in 
philosophical, might teach the languages, not only to 
my academical pupils, but also to some lads who are 
forming their first acquaintance with them, or who, 
though they may have made some progress, are not 



HIS ACADEMICAL CHARGE. 307 

yet of an age, standing, or attainments, fit to be ranked 
with any of our classes. This marvellously secured, 
as you see, two important objects at once, that of 
improving our academical course of education, and 
of providing for the scheme of the youths, which lay 
so near my heart. And it has had such an effect 
already, that whereas at midsummer we had four 
vacancies on Mr. Coward's list that we could not fill 
up, candidates are now offering faster than we can 
provide for them, both as pupils and as scholars, (you 
will easily understand the distinction ;) so that where- 
as we have hitherto been calling for vessels, I am now 
beginning to fear for the oil. In plain terms, your 
errand to the throne of grace is this, that a suitable 
person may be found to set over this important office, 
and that the hearts of Christians may be opened to 
establish such a fund for the scholars as may be suffi- 
cient for their subsistence. 

" As to the first of these, my eyes were upon Mr. 
Rose, private tutor to Mr. Murray, nephew to the 
earl of Dunmore ; a most ingenious, learned, active, 
prudent, faithful man, and one for whose fidelity and 
friendship I could have ventured my life. He is a 
lover of God and goodness, though I cannot say all I 
could wish. But Lord Dunmore will not consent to 
his undertaking the additional charge, though it would 
have saved twenty pounds per annum for the benefit 
of the scholars. I am now therefore at a loss ; I have 
sent every way to inquire, but get no answer; and 
whereas the plan was to have been early executed, 
the putting it off as a thing only projected may, as 
you will perceive, be attended with hazardous conse- 



308 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

quences. On this account, I would most earnestly 
entreat that God would appear, and make no long 
tarrying. 

" As to the other, I am now sending out circular 
letters to engage all the ministers in the country in 
this scheme, and by their assistance the people of their 
several congregations. This will occasion an associ- 
ation among us, which is a thing I have long wished ; 
and I inclose in my circular the plan of their associa- 
tions in Norfolk and Suffolk, in consequence of which 
six very promising youths are now being educated. 
But here now is a work for prayer, to entreat that 
God would touch their hearts with a right sense of 
things, that they may see of how great importance the 
scheme is, and what a crisis we are now come to with 
regard to it. I trust in God that he will appear, 
but then we must seek it in a way of humble prayer. 
I am getting all the assistance for this purpose I can, 
and I bless God my mouth is often opened and my 
heart enlarged, when I am endeavoring to plead his 
cause, and I see souls hanging on my lips and drink- 
ing in the truth as it is in Jesus. 

" Indeed, my friend, I have lately been not only 
praying for you, but solemnly blessing God upon your 
account ; that there is such a minister, that I have such 
a friend, that I have been the honored instrument of 
training up such a pupil, and that I have such a joyful 
hope, though separated from him now, of dwelling with 
him for ever, and of seeing him with the angels of God. 

" I have a thousand things to write, but have no 
time. I received eleven letters yesterday, and am so 
covered with cares that they almost bear me down; 



HIS ACADEMICAL CHARGE. 309 

but if they may but be cares for God, they are wel- 
come. 

" I beseech you to present my kind salutations to 
all my Kidderminster friends, and particularly to Mr. 
Williams. Grace and peace be ever with you." 

To the public performances of his students, their 
discourses and prayers, the doctor listened with great 
candor and kindness, forbearing to censure slight 
imperfections of matter or manner, which he thought 
increasing experience would correct and supply, while 
he took great delight in commending whatever was 
excellent and appropriate. When he noticed defects 
and errors, it was done privately and with great gen- 
tleness. It gave him unbounded pleasure to witness 
the signs of future usefulness and success in those who 
were about to leave the academy to enter upon the 
scenes of pastoral labor. 

Writing to the Rev. Dr. Wood, Sept. 10, 1741, he 
says, " My academy grows rather than declines since 
the date of my last ; and I hope several pupils added 
within these few weeks will be in the number of the 
most pious and able ministers our age is producing, 
should God spare their lives and prosper their labors 
in preparatory studies; but I am just going to lose 
my valuable assistant Mr. Orton, whom I had the 
honor and pleasure to train up, and who is one of the 
most excellent persons of his age and standing that I 
ever knew, or ever expect to know. 77 

Again, on another occasion, with great modesty 

and humility, he thus writes: "This day Mr. 

preached one of the best sermons I ever heard, con- 



310 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

cerning the happiness of the children of God. I had 
preached one on the subject some time before, but 
when I considered how much superior his was to 
mine, it shamed and humbled me ; yet I bless God it 
did not grieve me. If any stirrings of envy moved, 
they were immediately suppressed ; and as soon as I 
came home, I solemnly returned my acknowledgments 
to God for having raised up such a minister to his 
church, and honored me with his education. I recom- 
mended him to the divine blessing with the tenderest 
affection, leaving myself in the hand of God, acqui- 
escing in the thought of being eclipsed, of being neg- 
lected, if he shall so appoint ; at the same time ador- 
ing Him, that with capacities inferior to a multitude 
of others, I have been providentially led into services 
superior to those of many in comparison with whom 
my knowledge and learning is but that of a child. J; 

To his students, when they were sick, he gave most 
soothing and valuable attention ; and when any were 
removed by death from his control, he poured out his 
heart in private sorrow and in affecting letters of 
condolence to their mourning friends. He endeavored 
also to improve such sad events as means of exciting 
the surviving members of his school to aim at high 
attainments in scholarship, piety, and usefulness. 

The incongruous elements composing the member- 
ship of the academy often gave special difficulty to 
the mild and affectionate president, in managing the 
cases of such as were not willing to conform to the 
strict regulations by which it was distinguished. Had 
it been composed only of theological students, the 
care of it would have been comparatively easy ; btit 






HIS ACADEMICAL CHARGE. 311 

in its number he often had some young gentlemen of 
large fortunes, intended for no particular profession, 
and having no serious aims, as the others had. It 
was difficult therefore to frame, much less to enforce, 
general laws that would not bear hard upon one class 
or the other. It was his desire to admit none but 
divinity students; but it was overruled by some of 
his influential friends and advisers. Nevertheless all 
the students were alike subjected to the religious 
order and discipline of the family. 

The deportment which he maintained towards his 
theological students, upon their first entrance into the 
ministry, and also in securing to them eligible settle- 
ments and subsequently in promoting their comfort 
and usefulness, by correspondence and other manifes- 
tations of personal interest in their welfare, is much to 
the credit of his paternal love and eminent benevo- 
lence. He was always glad to see them at Northamp- 
ton, invited them to his house as their home, and treat- 
ed them as his own beloved children, inquiring after 
their welfare, and manifesting unaffected solicitude to 
promote it by counsel, instruction, or by any other 
method within the compass of his ability. 

For twenty-two years he sustained, and with de- 
servedly high reputation, the post of an academical 
and theological instructor ; and during that time two 
hundred young men enjoyed the advantages of the 
school, of whom one hundred and twenty became 
ministers of the gospel, while a number died in the 
course of their preparatory studies for that office. 
Students were attracted to him, not from England 
only, but also from Scotland and Holland. 



312 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

In reviewing the account which has now been 
given of the admirable course pursued by Dr. Dod- 
dridge towards his students, we are prepared for the 
announcement which Mr. Orton makes, that " they in 
general loved him as a father, and that his paternal 
advices and entreaties weighed more with them than 
the commands of rigid authority or the arguments of 
a cooler mind, when the affection of the heart was 
not felt, or not tenderly expressed." 

It was a remark of Cecil concerning Raleigh, " I 
know that he can toil terribly." And says Mr. S tough- 
ton, " On looking at the list of subjects in which 
Doddridge instructed his young men, we are perfectly 
astonished at the diligence which the variety of his 
knowledge evidently involved. Indeed, at every turn 
of his life we see that the man must have ' toiled ter- 
ribly. 7 Yet, with all his toil, it was impossible that 
he should make himself such a master of universal 
science as to be thoroughly competent to teach the 
whole, or have strength enough to go regularly round 
a circle of tuition so wide and varied ; and therefore 
we cannot help congratulating the rising ministry 
that the altered circumstances and spirit of the age 
have enabled us to introduce the great economic prin- 
ciple of a distribution of labor into our college system, 
and to allot to several vigorous and sanctified minds 
distinct departments of instruction, suited to their dif- 
ferent intellectual tastes and literary attainments." 

The same writer proceeds to say, " Looking at the 
doctor's herculean efforts throughout one of his aca- 
demical sessions — the occupations of pastor, author, 
and tutor being combined — we cannot doubt that 



HIS ACADEMICAL CHARGE. 313 

welcome indeed must have been the summer recess, 
allowing him some change of scene and some sips of 
recreation. As we read his life and letters, and fully 
charge our mind with the image of this model of ear- 
nest diligence, we are really so oppressed, that we 
feel relief, sympathetic with his own, in thinking of 
his vacations. We are glad to go with him on one 
of his trips. Forthwith we sally out in imagination 
along the bad roads of the last century, by some ■ fly- 
ing' coach which managed to compass the distance 
of sixty-six miles between Northampton and London 
in a couple of days, till we arrive at Mr. Coward's 
house at Walthamstow, who entertains us with hearty 
cheer. Getting into a postchaise with him and Mr. 
Ashworth, we count with him ' thirty-five gates made 
fast with latches between the last market-town and 
Stratford-on-Avon/ where the doctor makes a pil- 
grimage to Shakespeare's grave. Next we go with 
him down to the hospitable mansion of the Welmans, 
1 the glory of the Taunton dissenters/ who receive him 
with ' princely elegance/ at ' a table fit for an arch- 
bishop.' Then we slowly travel on to Plymouth, and 
see our friend ' in a little boat dancing on the swell- 
ing sea/ or ; feeding a tame bear with biscuits ;' and 
then, on his way home, we peep into his room at Lym- 
ington, where he sits, on Saturday night, in a silk 
night-gown which Mr. Pearson has lent him, writing 
letters to his beloved Mercy ; or, opening one of them 
from Ongen in Essex, we find that he has turned 
angler : ' I went a fishing yesterday, and with extra- 
ordinary success; for I pulled a minnow out of the 
water, though it made shift to get away.' " 

Doddridge 14 



314 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 



As a sort of resum6 of what has been said con- 
cerning Dr. Doddridge's academy, we close the chap- 
ter with the racy sketch which is given of it in the 
North British Review : 

" Not only was it the resort of aspirants to the 
dissenting ministry, but wealthy dissenters were glad 
to secure its advantages for sons whom they were 
training to business or to learned professions. And 
latterly, attracted by the reputation of its head, pupils 
came from Scotland and from Holland; and, in one 
case at least, we find a clergyman of the church of Eng- 
land selecting it as the best seminary for a son whom 
he designed for the established ministry. Among 
those educated there, we find the names of the Earl 
of Dunmore, Ferguson of Kilkerran, Professor Gilbert 
Robertson, and another Edinburgh professor, James 
Robertson, famous in the annals of his Hebrew-loving 
family. 

" With an average attendance of forty young men, 
mostly residing under his own roof, this academy 
would have furnished abundant occupation to any 
ordinary teacher; and although usually relieved of 
elementary drudgery by his assistant, the main burden 
of instruction fell on Doddridge himself. He taught 
algebra, geometry, natural philosophy, geography, 
logic, and metaphysics. He prelected on the Greek 
and Latin classics, and at morning worship the Bible 
was read in Hebrew. Such of his people as desired 
it were initiated in French ; and besides an extensive 
course of Jewish antiquities and church history, they 
were carried through a history of philosophy on the 
basis of Buddaeus. To all of which must be added 






HIS ACADEMICAL CHARGE. 315 

the main staple of the curriculum, a series of two 
hundred and fifty theological lectures, arranged, like 
Stapfer's, on the demonstrative principle, and each 
proposition following its predecessor with a sort of 
mathematical precision. 

" Enormous as was the labor of preparing so many 
systems, and arranging anew materials so multifarious, 
it was still a labor of love. A clear and easy appre- 
hension enabled him to amass knowledge with a ra- 
pidity which few have ever rivalled, and a constitu- 
tional orderliness of mind rendered him perpetual 
master of all his acquisitions ; and, like most million- 
aires in the world of knowledge, his avidity of ac- 
quirement was accompanied by an equal delight in 
imparting his treasures. When the essential ingre- 
dients of his course were completed, he relieved his 
memory of its redundant stores by giving lectures on 
rhetoric and belles-lettres, on the microscope, and on 
the anatomy of the human frame ; and there is one 
feature of his method which we would especially com- 
memorate, as we fear that it still remains an original 
without a copy : 

"Sometimes he conducted the students into the 
library, and gave a lecture on its contents. Going 
over it case by case, and row by row, he pointed out 
the most important authors, and indicated their char- 
acteristic excellences, and fixed the mental association 
by striking or amusing anecdotes. "Would not such 
bibliographical lectures be a boon to all our stu- 
dents ? To them a large library is often a labyrinth 
without a clue — a mighty maze — a dusty chaos. And 
might not the learned keepers of our great collections 



316 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

give lectures which would be at once entertaining and 
edifying on those rarities, printed and manuscript, of 
which they are the favored guardians, but of which 
their shelves are in the fair way to become, not the 
dormitory alone, but the sepulchre ? 

"Nor was it to the mere intellectual culture of 
his pupils that Dr. Doddridge directed his labors. 
His academy was a church within a church ; and not 
content with the ministrations which its members 
shared in common with his stated congregation, this 
indefatigable man took the pains to prepare and 
preach many occasional sermons to the students. 
These, and his formal addresses, as well as his per- 
sonal interviews, had such an effect, that out of the 
two hundred young men who came under his instruc- 
tions, seventy made their first public profession of 
Christianity during their sojourn at Northampton." 






HIS PUBLISHED WORKS. 317 



CHAPTER VI. 

DODDRIDGE AS AN AUTHOR. 

From the commencement of his career as a stu- 
dent, to the end of his active and useful life, Dod- 
dridge was distinguished by great diligence and eager- 
ness in the pursuit of knowledge, and great aptitude 
in the communication of it. His resolution and per- 
severance in whatever he undertook, secured for him 
a large measure of success. Joining great quickness 
of apprehension to uncommon strength of memory, 
and judicious and constant habits of study, he made 
large and valuable accumulations of knowledge — of 
those branches of knowledge particularly which he 
conceived would be most to his advantage as a pastor, 
and an instructor. With books he gained an exten- 
sive acquaintance. On the general topics of litera- 
ture, there were few works of any great value which 
he had not read and digested ; for he read with great 
attention, noting in the margin the passages which he 
thought of special value, sometimes writing hints, 
making references and reflections concerning the sen- 
timents of the authors read. He often reminded his 
students that the true purpose of readiug was not to 
treasure up other men's thoughts, but to furnish the 
mind with materials to exercise its own powers. 
Adopting in his own practice this judicious maxim, 
his mind became a storehouse of varied intellectual 
resources, upon which he could rely, to supply his 



318 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

lectures, scientific and religious, his discourses in the 
pulpit, and his conversation, which was always instruc- 
tive as well as entertaining. 

In the earlier years of his ministry, he gratified his 
taste in a liberal study of English literature, and with 
great benefit to his then future authorship. He was 
sufficiently versed in the Latin and Greek classics 
to read them with facility and pleasure. "While 
yet a student, he read Homer with great delight, and 
made critical annotations of sufficient extent to form 
a considerable volume, as we have already noticed. 
The philosophers and orators of antiquity occupied 
many of his leisure hours, Demosthenes being a par- 
ticular favorite. He carefully studied the Latin and 
Greek fathers, those especially of the first three cen- 
turies. He was skilled in the Hebrew language also, 
and some time before his death had nearly completed 
a new translation of the minor prophets, which is said 
to display great critical acumen. He indicated in 
some of his lectures a decided taste for philosophical 
and scientific investigations. He had not only ren- 
dered himself quite familiar with civil and ecclesias- 
tical history, but had turned it to good account by 
the observations and reflections which he made upon 
it, illustrative of human nature, of the dealings of 
Providence, and of the pages of the sacred volume. 

But his force and application of mind were chief- 
ly given to theological investigations and writing. 
While he studied carefully the works of master minds 
in this field of inquiry, and was able to speak with 
discrimination of their peculiar shades of opinion, he 
drew up his own system, chiefly from the sacred Scrip- 



HIS PUBLISHED WORKS. 319 

tures, which he regarded as his only standard. As 
he was no slave to the authority of others, so he did 
not affect to distinguish himself by any of those pe- 
culiarities of opinion which learned men are often 
fond of, and which, in most instances, are rather in- 
jurious than solid. His "Lectures on Divinity" were 
published after his death, and are regarded as a noble 
monument of learning well digested, though exhibited 
in a method perhaps too technical and formal. 

"Upon the whole/ 7 says Orton, "it may, I think, 
with great justice be said of Doddridge, that, though 
others might exceed him in their acquaintance with 
antiquity or their skill in the languages, yet, in the 
extent of his learning and the variety of useful and 
important knowledge he had acquired, he was sur- 
passed by few." 

Having acquired, as we have said, large stores of 
varied knowledge, he had learned also the art of com- 
municating his thoughts with great clearness, propri- 
ety, order, and persuasive power. He possessed a 
remarkable command of language, and had formed 
his style on the best of English models. It was lu- 
cid, but inclined to be diffuse. Fine writing was no 
part of his effort, for he studied invariably to adapt 
himself to the apprehension and improvement of plain 
readers. He endeavored, both in preaching and in 
writing, to adapt himself to the popular mind of the 
age, and to promote the enlightenment and the piety 
of the masses. He might have attained the highest 
reputation as a literary man, and an elegant writer ; 
but, for the sake of a higher usefulness, he deliberate- 
ly sacrificed all the fame of this sort which was with- 



320 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

in his grasp, and, as we have seen, he inculcated upon 
his theological students the exercise of a similar self- 
denial. 

Such were the endowments and. views qualifying 
Dr. Doddridge for his distinguished career as an au- 
thor. Some notice will now be taken of the principal 
works which he has furnished to the world. 

About the year 1730, the Dissenters' interest in 
England had sustained an evident decline, as com- 
pared with former periods, and an anonymous work 
attracted public attention under the title of "An In- 
quiry into the Causes of the Decay of the Dissenting 
Interest." The writer failed to discern and exhibit 
the most important causes of such decay ; assigning as 
causes, the bigotry of the orthodox party, the unrea- 
sonable length of sermons, the undue brevity of the 
prayers, and the neglect of the rising generation. 
The grand remedy which he proposed for such a de- 
cline, was the cultivation, on the part of the dissent- 
ing ministers, of polite and gentlemanly habits. This 
treatise, falling into the hands of Mr. Doddridge, in- 
duced him to write and to publish a reply, which he 
entitled "Free Thoughts on the Best Means of Reviv- 
ing the Dissenting Interest," one of the first of his pub- 
lications. He therein shows that the dissenting in- 
terest had declined in consequence of a declension in 
godliness among dissenters, and that the best method 
of advancing that interest was to take effectual meas- 
ures for the revival of practical religion. For this 
purpose he suggested that a change was required in 
the general style of preaching ; that instead of being 



HIS PUBLISHED WORKS. 321 

coldly orthodox and correct, it must be full of earnest- 
ness and unction ; evangelical in spirit as well as doc- 
trine ; adapted to interest and instruct the common 
people; experimental, plain, and affectionate. He 
urged also upon all dissenters a consistent Christian 
course of conduct, the religious culture of the young, 
and a benignant, courteous disposition towards all the 
professed followers of Christ. 

The works next given to the press were chiefly 
Sermons, and are thus briefly described by his own 
pen: "The four sermons on the education of children 
were published in 1732, and recommended by a pref- 
ace written by the Rev. David Some. In 1734, these 
were followed by six sermons to young persons ' On 
the Importance of the Rising Generation/ ' Christ form- 
ed in the Soul/ 'The Danger of Bad Company/ 'The 
Orphan's Hope/ 'Religious Youth invited to Early 
Communion/ and ' The Lamentations of a Pious Father 
on the Death of a Wicked Child/ The last was one 
of my first sermons, and preached while I was at the 
academy, under the direction of my worthy tutor, who 
chose the subject and assisted me in its composition. 
In 1735, 1 printed a single sermon ' On the Care of the 
Soul as the One Thing needful/ at the desire of a per- 
son of quality, at whose house it was preached. In 
1736, a sermon preached on the preceding fifth of No- 
vember, entitled ' The Absurdity and Iniquity of Per- 
secution for Conscience 7 Sake in all its Kinds and De- 
grees.' It was proposed as an appendix to the sermons 
against Popery, preached at Salter's Hall that year, 
as the growth of Popery in and about London had 
been observed to be very great. In the same year I 

14* 



322 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

published 'Ten Sermons on the Power and Grace of 
Christ, and the Evidence of His glorious Gospel/ 
These sermons were preached at the desire of that 
munificent benefactor to the cause of non-conformity, 
William Coward, Esq. ; and the last three were so 
agreeable to Dr. Seeker, then Bishop of Oxford, that 
he expressed his desire to me that they might be pub- 
lished alone, for the use of junior students, whose of- 
fice calls them to defend Christianity ; and perhaps I 
have not written any thing with greater accuracy, or 
which will be found more adapted to the use of junior 
students in theology." 

It afforded singular pleasure to the author of these 
sermons to learn, that two gentlemen of liberal edu- 
cation and distinguished talents were by the reading 
of them brought to the abandonment of Deism, and 
to the conviction of the divine origin and truth of 
Christianity. One of them, moreover, who had been 
particularly active in awakening prejudices against 
the gospel in the minds of others, became a zealous 
preacher and distinguished ornament of the religion 
he once decried, disparaged, and contemned. 

The works just referred to, and some others in the 
advocacy of practical religion, are noticed with suffi- 
cient interest in the correspondence, to justify the in- 
troduction at this point of several letters, from which 
we learn the favorable reception accorded to them. 

In the year 1738 commenced a correspondence be- 
tween Dr. Doddridge and Dr. Warburton, once a 
country attorney, but who afterwards became bishop 
of Gloucester, where he died in 1771, at the age of 
eighty-one. In learning, and in some of the minor 



HIS PUBLISHED WORKS. 323 

doctrines of Christianity, they warmly agreed, and 
greatly admired each other; but as to the peculiar 
doctrines of the gospel, they had little sympathy in 
common. Dr. Samuel Johnson gives a very correct 
character of Warburton when he says, "He was a 
man of vigorous faculties ; a mind fervent and vehe- 
ment, supplied by incessant and vivid inquiry with 
wonderful extent and variety of knowledge, which 
yet had not oppressed his imagination nor clouded 
his perspicuity. To every work he brought a memory 
full fraught, with a fancy fertile of original combina- 
tions ; and at once exerted the powers of the scholar, 
the reasoner, and the wit. But his knowledge was 
too multifarious to be always exact, and his pursuits 
were too eager to be always cautious." 

From the Rev. W. Warburton, D. D. 

" Brant Broughton, August 13, 1739. 

"I am sorry to hear you have been ill since I wrote 
my last, but am glad I heard not of it till I heard of 
your recovery along with it. What you say of your 
success in your ministry, and in your academical ca- 
pacity, gives me infinite pleasure on your account. 
And it is impossible the author of the c Free Thoughts/ 
etc., should meet with less; or he who observes the 
directions there laid down. I am in doubt whether 
that pamphlet be yours, because of your silence on 
that head ; but I will venture to tell you it is a mas- 
terpiece, both for the matter and composition, and 
therefore I wish it yours." 

Few facts in the history of conversions more strik- 
ingly illustrate the sovereignty of divine grace than 
those connected with Messrs. West and Lyttelton, 



324 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

both gentlemen of the highest respectability in soci- 
ety, and eminent in the literary world. When young 
men, they were both entangled in the snares of infi- 
delity, and zealous to deliver their fellow-men from 
what they considered the superstitions of Christian- 
ity. To effect this, they each resolved to select some 
leading supposed fact of that system, and to show its 
inconsistency with truth. West selected the resur- 
rection of Christ, and Sir George, afterwards Lord 
Lyttelton, the conversion of Paul. They entered rig- 
idly and honestly on their respective tasks, but to their 
own surprise and that of their companions, the careful 
examination of these great facts fully convinced them 
of their irresistible truth, and led them as little chil- 
dren to embrace the great doctrines of revelation. 
The university conferred on Mr. West, for the service 
he had thus rendered to Christianity, the degree of 
LL. D., and offered the same honor to Sir George 
Lyttelton, which, says Dr. Hunt, "he declined in a 
handsome manner, by saying that he chose not to be 
under any particular attachments ; that if he should 
happen to write any thing of the like kind for the fu- 
ture, it might not appear to proceed from any other 
motive but a pure desire of doing good. Their friend- 
ship and correspondence were highly valued by Dr. 
Doddridge. 

These facts will give force to a part of the follow- 
ing letter : 

To Mrs. Doddridge. 

" Northampton, January 31, 1743. 
"I have finished my 'View of the Principles of 
Christianity, in short and easy Verse for the use of 



HIS PUBLISHED WORKS. 325 

Little Children ;' for which, I hope both ? s and 

yours may be something the better. I am not asham- 
ed of these little services, for I had rather feed the 
lambs of Christ than rule a kingdom. 

"I received by Wednesday's post a very obliging 
letter from Mr. Lyttelton, to whom I sent my late 
pamphlet— ['Letters to the author of ' Christianity 
not founded on Argument.'] He tells me he never 
yet read the author on whom I animadvert, but heard 
from Dr. Ayscough that he had wit and malignity 
enough to deserve my notice ; and that he is glad such 
an antidote is prepared against the poison. These 
are his words. He adds, ' There is nothing I am more 
pleased with in your performance, though it is all very 
good, than that gentleness and candor, so becoming a 
Christian and a divine, with which you treat your 
adversary in confuting his doctrines. Such a treatise 
is, I am persuaded, much more likely to make him 
ashamed of himself, and to gain every reader to your 
side of the question, than the sharpest invectives that 
could have been used ; and I heartily wish that all 
who defend the same good cause would, in this re- 
spect, follow your example/ 

" He adds his earnest desire of seeing all I write in 
the progress of this controversy, and concludes with 
very obliging professions of sincere esteem and regard." 

From W. Oliver, M. D. 

"Bath, January 15, 1744. 

11 Your answer to the artful author of the pamphlet 

1 Christianity not founded on Argument/ gave me 

great pleasure. You effectually pluck that snake out 

of the grass, under which he endeavored to conceal 



326 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

himself; you dispel the mists and fogs with which he 
hoped to obscure the truth ; and you plainly prove 
that the religion of Jesus is founded on the immutable 
basis of the eternal difference between right and wrong, 
confirmed and propagated by the most solid arguments, 
and therefore highly worthy to be embraced by all 
reasonable creatures. 

"Horace's observation, ' difficile est proprie com- 
munia dicere? makes your sermon on the erection of 
your county hospital the more valuable. Public 
charities have long been so trite a subject in the pul- 
pit, that we scarcely expect any thing new from the 
ablest preacher. But you, sir, have treated it in 
so masterly a manner, that the reader will find his 
passions awakened into tenderness and compassion 
towards the sick and the distressed, which had slept 
benumbed under the warmest influences of preceding 
discourses on that really affecting topic. 

" You write as if you felt, while others seem to 
desire that their brethren should feel what they them- 
selves are insensible of. They write from the head, 
but you from the heart" 

In reference to this matter of the hospital, Dr. 
Kippis observes, " I have a full recollection of the 
zeal and activity with which Dr. Doddridge entered 
into the scheme of erecting an infirmary for North- 
amptonshire. The success of the design was much 
owing to his exertions." 

To Mr. Wilbaum. 

" December 20, 1749. 
" As the author of * Christianity not/ etc., pretend- 
ed to cry up the immediate testimony of the Spirit, 



HIS PUBLISHED WORKS. 327 

and to assert its absolute necessity in order to the 
belief of the gospel, he endeavored to undermine all 
the rational evidences by which it could be supported, 
and advanced several very shrewd insinuations against 
their truth, in what I thought a most pernicious point 
of view. I therefore answered it in three letters, 
quickly succeeding each other, Nov. 5, Dec. 1, 1742, 
and March 5, 1743. In these I handled some topics 
which seemed of great importance, more particularly 
than I had seen them elsewhere examined. In the 
first was laid down the degree of rational evidence 
for the divine authority of Christianity to which an 
illiterate well-disposed person may attain. In the 
second, the reasonableness of annexing a condemna- 
tory sentence on unbelievers, as a part of the Chris- 
tian revelation ; and in the third, something on the doc- 
trine of divine influences. I have sometimes thought 
that what is of general concern in these letters, de- 
tached from what is peculiar to the author opposed, 
and published with my three sermons in proof of 
Christianity and the essay on the inspiration of the 
New Testament, might be of considerable service, 
and would give a very compendious, and I hope 
satisfactory view of these kindred subjects; of the 
vast importance of which none can doubt, and which 
never needed to be more clearly stated and strongly 
enforced than now." 

In 1741, Dr. Doddridge published "Practical Dis- 
courses on Regeneration" which had been preached on 
Sabbath evenings before large audiences composed 
of persons of different denominations, and to many 



328 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

of these persons they were made the happy means of 
effecting the great spiritual change which they so ful- 
ly and eloquently treated. When published, a wider 
usefulness of the same kind was exerted. 

Concerning these sermons, the venerable Dr. 
Isaac Watts thus wrote to Doddridge, Dec. 14, 1741 : 
" I should tell you also, that as I am much pleased 
with your book on Regeneration, we have begun it as 
the evening exercise on the Lord's day in our family ; 
and may our Lord Jesus pronounce a word of bless- 
ing on all that you write and speak." 

The following notice of the work occurs in a let- 
ter of Dr. Doddridge : 

" Two sermons on salvation by grace, which I 
preached at Rowel, in the course of my ordinary min- 
istry, I was so much urged to publish that I could not 
oppose it. I labored to state my ideas on that impor- 
tant subject in a scriptural, rather than in a systemat- 
ical manner ; as I did also in those ' Ten Sermons on 
Regeneration/ which, by the importunity of my peo- 
ple, to whom they were preached as a course of even- 
ing lectures, I was prevailed upon to give to the 
public. A second edition was demanded in the year 
1745, when I added a postscript to the preface, in 
which I examined the notion of baptismal regenera- 
tion, and endeavored, in a few words, to obviate those 
mistaken principles, which Mr. Taylor of Norwich had 
advanced, in explaining some of the doctrines handled 
in these sermons." 

We are told, that one of the last works read to 
the late celebrated John Poster, a day or two before 
his death, was a sermon by Dr. Doddridge, on " the 



HIS PUBLISHED WORKS. 329 

incapacity of an unregenerate soul for relishing the 
enjoyments of the heavenly world ;" and that he was 
so struck with this sermon, that he desired his daugh- 
ters to promise him they would read it every month, 
saying that he thought no one could read it often 
without a salutary effect. 

In 1744 Dr. Doddridge published the work by 
which he is best known, and which God has honored 
in the conversion of thousands of sinners — " The Rise 
and Progress of Eeligion in the Soul." Of this vol- 
ume, written on a plan partly suggested by Dr. Isaac 
Watts, to whom also it was dedicated, its author thus 
wrote : " This is the book which, so far as I can judge, 
God has honored for the conversion and edification 
of souls more than any of my writings. The editions 
and translations of it have been multiplied far beyond 
my hope and expectation, and I cannot mention it 
without humbly owning that great hand of God which 
has been with it, and to which I desire with unaffect- 
ed abasement of mind to ascribe all the glory of its 
acceptance and success." 

Since the death of its excellent author the sale of 
this work, and consequently its usefulness, has extend- 
ed almost beyond example. Edition has followed 
edition to a nearly indefinite extent, and it has been 
also translated into nearly all the European, and 
many of the eastern languages. Its prevailing excel- 
lence is the heart-subduing fervor of devotion which 
animates its pages, and awakens in the heart of its 
reader a kindred emotion. We can readily believe 
Orton when he tells us that it contains the whole 



330 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

substance of its author's preaching, and agree that 
"there is hardly any single treatise which may be 
more serviceable to young ministers and students, if 
they would make it familiar to their minds." 

The beneficial influence of this work for upwards 
of a century it is most delightful to imagine. To 
estimate it fully is impossible. 

Doctor Watts not only suggested the general plan, 
and urged the composition of the work, but watched 
and encouraged the progress of it in the most earnest 
manner: thus, Sept. 20, 1743, he writes, "Since you 
were pleased to read me some chapters of l The Eise 
and Progress of Eeligion in the Soul/ I am the more 
zealous for its speedy conclusion and publication, and 
beg you would not suffer any other matters to divert 
your attention, since I question whether you can do 
any thing more necessary." Again, Dec. 14, 1743, 
"I thank you that your heart is so much set upon the 
book I recommended you to undertake. I long for 
it, as I hope it will be a means of great usefulness. 
Grace and peace, and all the blessings of time and 
of eternity, be with you, good Mrs. Doddridge, and 
all your house." 

The day after the date of this letter, Dr. Dod- 
dridge thus writes to Dr. Samuel Clarke: "I am 
hard at work upon my book of the ' Rise and Prog- 
ress of Religion/ which Dr. Watts is impatient to 
see, and I am eager to finish, lest he should slip 
away to heaven before it is done. It indeed appears 
a piece of so much importance that I transcribe it 
into longhand myself, which at first I did not at all 
intend to do." 



HIS PUBLISHED WORKS. 331 

In Sept. 1744, Dr. Watts again writes: "I long 
to have your ' Rise and Progress of Religion ? appear 
in the world. I wish my health had been so far 
established that I could have read every line with the 
attention it merits ; but I am not ashamed, by what I 
have read, to recommend it as the best treatise on 
practical religion which is to be found in our lan- 
guage, and I pray God that it may be extensively 
beneficial." 

From the Hev. Francis Ayscough, D. D. 

" Everard-Street, Feb. 16, 1745. 
" I really am ashamed, when I look on the date of 
your letter, to think how long I have left it unanswer- 
ed ; I will not make excuses, but choose rather to own 
myself to have been to blame, and to promise to be 
better for the future. After so frank a confession, I 
hope you will think my penitence sincere ; but though 
I omitted answering your letter, I must do myself the 
justice to say I did not neglect the business you wrote 
about. I presented your last book to her royal high- 
ness, and ought long enough ago to have acquainted 
you with her most gracious acceptance of it, and that 
I was commanded to return you her thanks for it. 
There is indeed such a spirit of piety in it as deserves 
the thanks of every good Christian ; pray God grant 
it may have its proper effect in awakening this pres- 
ent careless age, and then, I am sure, you will have 
your end in publishing it." 

Among the most eminent friends and correspond- 
ents of Dr. Doddridge was Sir James Stonehouse, for 
many years a distinguished physician of Northampton. 



5 HILIP DODDRIDGE. 

When he first went to that town he was strongly 
inclined to infidelity, in defence of which he publish- 
ed a volume which passed through three editions. 
The amiable character of Dr. Doddridge won his 
esteem, and led to discussions which ultimately deliv- 
ered Sir James from the delusions he had long cher- 
ished, and brought him " in his right mind " to Jesus. 
In his after-life he relinquished the extensive and 
lucrative duties of his profession, and entered the 
ministry in the established church. He was associat- 
ed with some of the most devoted Christians of his 
day, including Doddridge, Hervey, Whitefield, and 
Lady Huntingdon. 

We are not willing to leave this subject till we 
have transcribed part of a letter by Dr. Doddridge 
relating to the remarkable conversion of Sir James 
Stonehouse, as it is connected with " The Rise and Prog- 
ress." It was written to the Rev. Risdon Darracott, 
under date of March, 1747. 

" One of the most signal instances in which God 
has ever honored me, was in the conversion of a phy- 
sician in this town, who was once a most abandoned 
rake, and an audacious deist. God made me the 
means, first of bringing him to a conviction of the 
truth of Christianity, then of correcting his morals, 
and bringing him to attend the public worship of God 
at church; and at length of enlightening his mind 
with that true and saving knowledge of Christ to 
which, I bless God, he has now attained. He has 
written many most truly Christian letters to his old 
companions ; and has already, as he informs me in a 
letter which I received from him last post, for he is 



HIS PUBLISHED WORKS. 333 

now in London, been the means of converting an inti- 
mate friend who was once as great a deist as himself, 
so that he has become a true lover of Jesus Christ. 
This is indeed an amazing change. Good Mr. Her- 
vey has been honored as a fellow-laborer with me in 
this work. My book on the ' Rise and Progress of 
Religion/ has been, I hope, honored of God as one 
great means of producing this blessed change. He 
has read it again and again, and marked with a line 
drawn under them some hundreds of passages which 
occur in that treatise." 

This reference to Mr. Hervey gives us an oppor- 
tunity of making the reader better acquainted with 
him. About ten months before Doddridge thus men- 
tions him, the doctor had received from the Rev. Rich- 
ard Pearsall of Taunton, one of his former pupils, a 
letter containing this passage: "This week I have 
been surprised by a book which fell into my hands, 
entitled ' Meditations upon the Tombs and on a Flower- 
Garden, by James Hervey, A. B. 7 I have been charm- 
ed with the lively images, striking expressions, and 
serious piety which I find there. I wondered much 
to see a young clergyman acquainted so much with 
the genius of the gospel, and animated with such a 
warm love to the Redeemer. Pray, dear sir, do you 
know who and where he is? Not that I think the 
question will be needed to be asked long, if he goes 
on to publish." 

The reader is now prepared for a passage from the 
beautiful pen of Dr. James Hamilton, of London. 

" Near Northampton stands the little parish church 



334 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

of Western Pavel. Its young minister was one of 
Doddridge's dearest friends. He was a tall and spec- 
tral-looking man, dying daily ; and like so many in 
that district, was a debtor to his distinguished neigh- 
bor. After he became minister of his hereditary par- 
ish, and when he was preaching with more earnestness 
than light, he was one day acting on a favorite medi- 
cal prescription of that period, and accompanying a 
ploughman along the furrow in order to smell the 
fresh earth. The ploughman was a pious man, and 
attended the Castle-Hill meeting ; and the young par- 
ish minister asked him, ? What do you think the hard- 
est thing in religion V The ploughman respectfully 
returned the question, excusing himself as an ignorant 
man ; and the minister said, ' I think the hardest 
thing in religion is to deny sinful self; 7 and expatiat- 
ing some time on its difficulties, asked if any thing 
could be harder. 'No, sir, except it be to deny 
righteous self. ? At the moment the minister thought 
his parishioner a strange fellow, or a fool; but he 
never forgot the answer, and was soon a convert to 
the ploughman's creed. James Hervey had a mind 
of uncommon gorgeousness. His thoughts all march- 
ed to a stately music, and were arrayed in the richest 
superlatives. Nor was it affectation. It was the 
necessity of his ideal nature, and was a merciful com- 
pensation for his scanty powers of outward enjoyment. 
As he sat in his little parlor watching the saucepan 
in which his dinner of gruel was simmering, and filled 
up the moments with his microscope, or a page of the 
Astro-Theology, in his tour of the universe he soon 
forgot the pains and miseries of his corporeal resi- 



HIS PUBLISHED WORKS. 335 

dence. To him ' Nature was Christian ; ? and after 
his own soul had drunk in all the joy of the gospel, it 
became his favorite employment to read it in the fields 
and the firmament. One product of these researches 
was his famous ' Meditations/ They were in fact a 
sort of astro- and physico-evangelism, and as their 
popularity was amazing, they must have contributed 
extensively to the cause of Christianity. They were 
followed by ' Theron and Aspasio ' — a series of dia- 
logues and letters on the most important points of 
personal religion, in which, after the example of 
Cicero, solid instruction is conveyed amid the charms 
of landscape, and the amenities of friendly intercourse. 
This latter work is memorable as one of the first at- 
tempts to popularize systematic divinity ; and it should 
undeceive those who deem dulness the test of truth, 
when they find the theology of Vitringa and Witsius 
enshrined in one of our finest prose poems. It was 
hailed with especial rapture by the Seceders of Scot- 
land, who recognized 'the Marrow 7 in this lordly 
dish, and were justly proud of their unexpected apos- 
tle. Many of them, that is, many of the few who 
achieved the feat of a London journey, arranged to 
take Weston on their way, and eschewing the Ram 
Inn, and the adjacent academy, they turned in to 
Aspasio's lowly parsonage. Here they found a l reed 
shaking in the wind :' a panting invalid nursed by 
his tender mother and sister ; and when the Sabbath 
came, James Erskine, or Dr. Pattison, or whoever the 
pilgrim might be, saw a great contrast to his own 
teeming meeting-house in the little flock that assem- 
bled in the little church of Weston Pavel. But that 



336 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

flock hung with up-looking affection on the moveless 
attitude and faint accents of their emaciated pastor, 
and with Scotch-like alacrity turned up and marked 
in their Bibles every text which he quoted; and 
though they could not report the usual accessories of 
clerical fame, the melodious voice, and graceful elocu- 
tion, and gazing throng, the visitors carried away * a 
thread of the mantle/ and long cherished as a sacred 
remembrance the hours spent with this Elijah before 
he went over Jordan. Others paid him the compli- 
ment of copying his style ; and both among the evan- 
gelical preachers of the Scotch establishment and its 
secession, the ' Meditations ? became a frequent model. 
A few imitators were very successful, for their spirit 
and genius were kindred ; but the tendency of most of 
them was to make the world despise themselves, and 
weary of their unoffending idol. Little children pre- 
fer red sugar-plums to white, and always think it the 
best c content ? which is drunk from a painted cup ; 
but when the dispensation of content and sugar-plums 
has yielded to maturer age, the man takes his coffee 
and his cracknel without observing the pattern of the 
pottery. And unfortunately it was to this that the 
Herveyites directed their chief attention, and hungry 
people have long since tired of their flowery truisms 
and mellifluous inanities ; and partly from impatience 
of the copyists, the reading republic has nearly ostra- 
cized the glowing and gifted original." 




HIS PUBLISHED WORKS. 337 

From the Bishop of Oxford. 
(Afterwards Archbishop Seeker.) 

" Cuddesdex. Sept. 29, 1743. 

"I return you many thanks for your favorable 
opinion both of my sermon and its author, though 
expressed in a manner which you would have forborne 
if you had known me better ; for plain men should be 
treated in a plain way. Let us all endeavor to do 
what good we can, and give those who seem to en- 
deavor it faithfully, the comfort of knowing that we 
think they do ; but never let us tempt one another to 
forget that we are unprofitable servants. 

" I am in no danger of transgressing this rule when 
I say that I have read your works with great satisfac- 
tion, and, I hope, some benefit ; and both rejoice and 
wonder that in the midst of your other occupations 
you continue able, as I pray God you long may, to 
oblige your fellow- Christians so often and so highly 
from the press. Indeed, it must and ought to be own- 
ed in general, that the dissenters have done excellent- 
ly of late years in the service of Christianity ; and I 
hope our common warfare will make us chiefly atten- 
tive to our common interest, and unite us in a closer 
alliance. I believe, on the best inquiry I can make, 
that what I have said in favor of our charity-schools 
is true, and you do very well to propagate a sense of 
religion among your own people by the same method. 
I have read Dr. Watts 7 essay on the subject, which 
fell into my hands but yesterday, with much pleasure, 
and a little surprise to see in how many points we 
have coincided ; an evidence, I presume, that we are 

both in the right, 

15 



838 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

" I congratulate you heartily on the prospect you 
have of success in your hospital ; and as I am very 
sensible of what peculiar advantage it would be to 
have one at Oxford, so I have not only taken all 
opportunities of expressing and inculcating my opin- 
ion, but should long before now have made some trial 
as to what could be done in the matter, if hopes had 
not been given me that Dr. Kadcliffe's trustees, when 
his library is finished, may employ some part of the 
residue of his money in this excellent work. You 
were much to blame in not letting me see you at 
Gloucester; and the bishop, when he knows it, will 
be as sorry as I am, that you passed by us in the man- 
ner you did. The time of my being in town, and that 
of your coming thither, I am afraid are different ; but 
if any occasion should bring you near me, either there 
or here, I beg you will not think you need any intro- 
duction." 

From the Rev. John Barker. 

"October 3, 1744. 

" I now return my hearty thanks for your company 
in London. I assure you the pleasure you gave at 
Russel-street was equal to what you received. I am 
very glad to hear of your safety, health, and good 
spirits, and beseech God to prolong your life, and 
continue your usefulness. 

- The respect you meet with from men of eminence, 
learning, and candor in the Establishment pleases me 
much, but does not at all surprise me. Oh how do I 
wish, for the sake of our common Christianity, for the 
breaking down of the wall of separation between our 
brethren of the church of England and ourselves. The 



HIS PUBLISHED WORKS. 339 

dissenting interest is not like itself; I hardly know it. 
It used to be famous for faith, holiness, and love. I 
knew the time when I had no doubt, into whatever 
place of worship I went among dissenters, but that 
my heart would be warmed and comforted, and my 
edification promoted: now I hear prayers and ser- 
mons I neither relish nor understand ; primitive truths 
and duties are quite old-fashioned things. One's ears 
are so dinned with reason, the great law of reason, 
the eternal law of reason, that it is enough to put one 
out of conceit with the chief excellency of our nature, 
because it is idolized and almost deified. 

" How prone are men to extremes ! What a pity 
it is, that when people emerge out of an ancient mis- 
take, they seldom know when to stop. Oh for the 
purity of our fountains, the wisdom and diligence of 
our tutors, the humility, piety, and teachableness of 
our youth ! 

" Since I saw you I have been at Tunbridge Wells, 
and got good, I hope, by their waters. I spend this 
winter in town; and if it please God, shall write out 
the sermons I have on my hands ; but as my shadow 
grows long, my motion is slow. You are happy in 
dispatch as well as ability. Go on, dear sir, and 
prosper, and let us who are going off rejoice that we 
leave behind us some men of diligence, faithfulness, 
and zeal for the Christian revelation, and the glory 
of its Author." 

From the Hev. It. Pearsall. 

" Warminster, Jan. 4, 1746. 
"I thank you, among many, for your late book, 
1 The Rise and Progress/ etc. We think you have in 



840 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

this performance exceeded yourself. May divine grace 
set in with it to the salvation of many souls. I have 
not known any book, published of late years, that 
obtains so universally among Christians of various 
denominations and different tastes in some other 
things. 

"I have sometimes in my own mind planned a 
great work for you, but I fear it is too great, consid- 
ering your daily application other ways, that you 
should begin a body of divinity in sermons, of a mix- 
ed nature, doctrinal and practical, somewhat in the 
same way with what is laid down in Matthew Henry's 
life. Do not let the proposal die as soon as read, but 
think of it. Hereby you might instruct and lead 
towards heaven after you are safely lodged there. 

" May divine Providence long protract the thread 
of your life, and the good Spirit animate and increase 
your gifts and graces, that your honor may redound 
abundantly to the name of your God and Redeemer. 
To the divine protection and conduct I commit you." 

Moved by these, and similar applications, Dr. Dod- 
dridge, in his will, directed the publication of " four 
volumes of sermons/ 7 that have added much to the 
author's fame and usefulness. 

The celebrated John Foster, in 1825, conferred 
great honor upon " The Rise and Progress," by writ- 
ing, with immense care and labor, an admirable intro- 
duction to it for a Glasgow publisher. An amusing 
account of the delay and labor in its preparation, 
may be found in the "Life and Correspondence of 
Foster." 



HIS PUBLISHED WORKS. 341 

In 1747 our author issued a work of great interest 
entitled, " Some Remarkable Passages in the Life of 
Col. James Gardiner, who was slain by the Rebels at 
the Battle of Preston-Pans, Sept. 21, 1745." In this 
publication he designed not merely a tribute of grati- 
tude to the memory of an invaluable friend, but of 
duty to God and his fellow-creatures, as he had a 
cheerful hope that the narrative would, under the 
divine blessing, be the means of spreading a warm 
and lively sense of religion. He thought the Colonel's 
character would command some peculiar regard, as it 
shone amid the many temptations of a military life. 

The correspondence in relation to this work, and 
the remarkable subject of it, partly from the pen of 
Col. Gardiner himself, cannot fail to be read with 
interest. It will be observed that some disparaging 
strictures had been indulged in by writers of a worldly 
spirit, who, nevertheless, had admired th« learning 
and ability of the author. 

It will prepare us to read the correspondence with 
deeper interest, if the admirable sketch of Colonel 
Gardiner, from the "North British Review/ 7 first 
receive attention. 

" Among the visitors at their father's house, at first 
to the children of Dr. Doddridge more formidable 
than the doctor, [Dr. Stonehouse,] and by and by 
the most revered of all, was a Scotch cavalry officer. 
With his hessian boots, and their tremendous spurs, 
sustaining the grandeur of his scarlet coat and pow- 
dered cue, there was something to youthful imagi- 
nation very awful in the tall and stately hussar ; and 
that awe was nowise abated when they got courage 



342 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

to look on his high forehead, with overhung grey eyes 
and weather-beaten cheeks, and when they marked his 
fine and dauntless air. And then it was terrible to 
think how many battles he had fought, and how in 
one of them a bullet had gone quite through his neck, 
and he had lain a whole night among the slain. But 
there was a deeper mystery still. He had been a very 
bad man once, it would appear, and now he was very 
good ; and he had seen a vision ; and altogether, with 
his strong Scotch voice, and his sword, and his won- 
derful story, the most solemn visitant was this grave 
and lofty soldier. But they saw how their father 
loved him, and how he loved their father. As he sat 
so erect in the square corner seat of the chapel, they 
could notice how his stern look would soften, and how 
his firm lip would quiver, and how a happy tear would 
roll down his deep-lined face ; and they heard him as 
he sung so joyfully the closing hymn, and they came 
to feel that the Colonel must indeed be very good. 
At last, after a long absence, he came to see their 
father, and stayed three days, and he was looking 
very sick, and very old ; and the last night before he 
went away, their father preached a sermon in the house, 
and his text was, 1 1 will be with him in trouble : I 
will deliver him, and honor him. ? And the Colonel 
went away, and their father went with him, and gave 
him a long convoy ; and many letters went and came. 
But at last there was war in Scotland. There was a 
rebellion, and there were battles. And then the 
gloomy news arrived — there had been a battle close 
to the very house of Bankton, and the king's soldiers 
had run away, and the brave Colonel Gardiner could 



HIS PUBLISHED WORKS. 343 

not rim, but fought to the very last ; and alas for the 
Lady Frances, he was stricken down and slain scarce 
a mile from his own mansion door." 

From Col. Gardiner. 

" Leicester, July 9, 1739. 
" My dear Doctor — I know not how the reading 
of my letters may move you, but I am sure I never 
receive any that have a greater influence on me than 
yours ; and much do I stand in need of every help to 
awaken me out of that spiritual deadness, which seizes 
me so often. Once, indeed, it was quite otherwise 
with me, and that for many years. 

" ' Firm was my health, my day was bright, 
And I presumed 't would ne'er be night : 
Fondly I said within my heart, 
Pleasure and peace shall ne'er depart. 

' But I forgot Thine arm was strong, 
Which made my mountain stand so long: 
Soon as Thy face began to hide, 
My health was gone, my comforts died/ 

Here lies my sin and my folly. And this brings to 
my mind that sweet singer in our Israel, I mean Dr. 
Watts ; for you must know that I have been in pain 
these several years lest that excellent person should 
be called to heaven before I had an opportunity to 
let him know how much his works have been blessed 
in me, and of course to return him my hearty thanks ; 
for though it is owing to the operation of the blessed 
Spirit that any thing works effectually on our hearts, 
yet if we are not thankful to the instrument which 
God is pleased to make use of, whom we do see, how 
shall we be thankful to the Almighty whom we have 



344 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

not seen? Therefore, dear doctor, I must beg the 
favor of you to let him know that I intended to wait 
upon him when I was in London, in the beginning of 
last May, but was informed, and that to my great sor- 
row, that he was extremely ill, and therefore I did 
not think that a visit would have been seasonable, 
especially considering that I have not the happiness 
to be much acquainted with the doctor ; but well am 
I acquainted with his works, especially with his psalms, 
hymns, and lyrics. How often, by singing some of 
them when by myself, on horseback and elsewhere, 
has the evil spirit been made to flee away, 

"' Whene'er my heart in tune was found, 
Like David's harp of solemn sound/ 

I desire to bless God for all the good news of his 
recovery, and entreat you to tell him that although I 
cannot keep pace with him here in celebrating the 
high praises of our glorious Eedeemer, which is the 
great grief of my heart, yet I am persuaded that, 
when I join the glorious company above, where there 
will be no drawbacks, none will outsing me there; 
because I shall not find any who have been more 
indebted to the wonderful riches of divine grace than 
myself. 

" ' Give me a place at thy saints' feet, 
Or some fallen angel's vacant seat ; 
I '11 strive to sing as loud as they 
Who sit above in brighter day.' 

I know it is natural for any one who has felt that 
almighty power which raised our glorious Redeemer 
from the grave, to believe his case singular. But I 
have made every one in this respect submit, as soon 






HIS PUBLISHED WORKS. 845 

as he has heard my story ; and if you seemed so sur- 
prised at the account which I gave you, what will you 
be when you hear it all ? 

" ' Oh, if I had an angel's voice, 
And could be heard from pole to pole, 
I would to all the listening world 
Proclaim thy goodness to my soul.' 

" Dear doctor, if you knew what a natural aver- 
sion I have to writing, you would be astonished at the 
length of this letter, which is, I believe, the longest I 
ever wrote. But my heart warms when I write to 
you, which makes my pen move the easier. I hope 
it will please our gracious God long to preserve you 
a blessed instrument in his hand of doing great good 
in the church of Christ." 

A CONVERSATION WITH COL. GARDINER, AND HIS 
EXTRAORDINARY STORY. 

" I have this evening, August 14, 1739," says Dr. 
Doddridge, "been conversing with the ingenious, polite, 
judicious, and eminently pious Colonel Gardiner, and 
have again been receiving from his own mouth the 
extraordinary story of his conversion ; and therefore 
think it proper, while it continues fresh in my memo- 
ry, to write it down for further reflection, with all the 
exactness of which I am capable. 

"This worthy gentleman and brave soldier was 
the son of a very religious mother, and educated with 
great care ; but soon outgrew all the influence of a 
religious education, and lived from his childhood to 
the thirty-first year of his age without reading the 
word of God, without prayer, abandoned to all the 

15* 



846 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

most profligate vices, and to every kind of debauchery 
and wickedness consistent with a good-natured tem- 
per, which he always had, and some grateful sense of 
human friends, when most insensible of divine favors. 

11 He had, before his conversion, been distinguish- 
ed by two remarkable deliverances. The one was at 
the battle of Eamillies, when, as he was planting his 
colors, and swearing violently at his men, he received 
a shot into his mouth, which came out at his neck, 
and laid him apparently among the dead, where he 
lay two nights, and part of three days. From the 
time he received this wound he thought there was 
something miraculous in his surviving it ; and while 
he lay among the dead, he was persuaded that God 
would complete his deliverance ; yet even then he had 
no sense of duty, gratitude, or penitence. 

" About the year 1719, going over in the packet- 
boat to France, when Lord Stair was ambassador 
there, a violent storm arose, which tossed the vessel 
from sea to sea, and from coast to coast, till the cap- 
tain came and told him that they must inevitably be 
lost if the wind did not immediately fall. Upon this 
he prayed ; and on his doing it, even while he was so 
employed, the wind fell, and turned into a favorable 
gale, which carried them into Calais; but instead of 
having any sense of the hand of God in that deliver- 
ance, he only made a jest of it, and said he prayed 
because it was twelve at night, and he knew his good 
mother was asleep. 

" From Calais he went to Paris, where he continued 
some time in the Earl of Stair's family, and had an 
acquaintance with all the gayest and most illustrious 



HIS PUBLISHED WORKS. 34T 

men in the court of France; and here, as well as else- 
where, he passed, on account of tHe vivacity of his 
temper, for one of the happiest of mortals, while at 
the same time he felt those inward agonies of con- 
science, which made him once say, on the sight of a 
dog, ' Oh that I were that brute !' yet still he went on 
without any thought of a return to God ; and when 
pleased with a fine poem on gratitude, he attempted 
to praise God once or twice, he was so conscious that 
he did not desire to serve him, that from a mere innate 
abhorrence of hypocrisy he left off prayer. 

u Among many other very irregular dispositions, 
the love of women was his ruling passion. He had 
one night an appointment with another gentleman's 
wife, and was to go to her chamber at twelve o'clock. 
Breaking up from some company at eleven he retired 
into his chamber, and looking among his books for 
something to amuse him till what he wretchedly call- 
ed the happy moment came, he took down what a 
pious aunt had, without his knowledge, put into his 
chest, Watson's ' Heaven Taken by Storm.' He took 
up this book merely to make a jest of it; but while he 
held it in his hand, he found himself struck on a sud- 
den, as by an unusual lustre, and lifting up his eyes, 
he solemnly declared to me, that he being then broad 
awake, if ever in his life, he apprehended that he 
saw clearly and distinctly Jesus Christ himself on the 
cross, with a strong impression on his mind of these 
words, ' Oh sinner, did I suffer this for thee, and are 
these thy returns?' The consequence was, that he 
was struck into such confusion that he sunk down in 
his chair, and on his recovering himself a little, had 



348 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

such views of the holiness, justice, and glory of God, 
as threw him into the utmost confusion and abase- 
ment ; and from that moment the whole tenor of his 
heart was changed, and divine grace took such pos- 
session of his soul, as he assures me has never been 
lost, and rendered him the very contrary of what he 
was naturally before. He did indeed look upon him- 
self as so great a sinner, that he had no hope, and 
apprehended that the honor of divine justice would 
require that he should be consigned over to eternal 
destruction; yet even then he resolutely broke off 
from all his sins, and set himself to defend the gospel 
by which he apprehended himself to be condemned. 

"Several instances of his encountering and con- 
founding infidels, and especially Mrs. Hammond, wid- 
ow to one of that name, who was speaker to the House 
of Commons, he added, but I have not time to mention 
them at length. He received comfort from these 
words, ' He is just, and the justifier of him that believ- 
eth in Jesus. ; The result of which was, that he was 
enabled by faith to venture his soul on Christ, and he 
then received such extraordinary communications of 
divine love and joy as kept him in a kind of continued 
rapture for some years, excepting the time necessarily 
devoted to the business of life, and the wants of ani- 
mal nature. The consequence was, that he found 
that strong propensity which had been the reigning 
passion of his life, utterly mortified ; so that though 
he had struggles with many other corruptions of 
nature, he had none with this, but hated those lusts 
more than he had ever loved and indulged them — 
which seems the most affecting comment on the apos- 






HIS PUBLISHED WORKS. 349 

tie's phrase of being sanctified in the whole body, that 
I ever remember to have met with ; and having put his 
hand to the plough, he never looked back, but broke 
through the trials of cruel mockings, as well as many 
others ; and~ he appears now to have attained to a 
most confirmed state of piety, and seems, on the whole, 
one of the most loving and affectionate Christians 
that in my life I have ever known. When I consider 
all the marvellous things he has told me, I must reck- 
on my acquaintance with him, and my share in his 
friendship, among the most eminent and distinguished 
blessings of my life. 

" I must add to all this, that he spoke of himself 
to me with the deepest self-abhorrence that he was no 
more affected with the goodness of God to him, and he 
seemed ashamed and grieved beyond expression that 
his heart was not hourly ascending to God in flames 
of love, and that he did not maintain at all times an 
uninterrupted sense of His presence, and zeal for His 
glory, as the one and the only business of his life." 

To David Gardiner, Esq. 
[The eldest son of Colonel Grardiner.] 

"April 28, 1740. 

" Though I have not the pleasure of a personal 
acquaintance with you, I think it not improbable that 
you may have learnt my name from your excellent 
parents, who honor me with their friendship, and have 
informed me of your illness, and recommended you to 
my earnest and affectionate prayers ; which, I assure 
you, dear sir, you shall continue to have a share in. 

" God has indeed been gracious to us, and heard 
our supplications. He has brought you back from the 



350 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

borders of the grave when you had received the sen- 
tence of death. And now, my dear friend — for so me- 
thinks I have a hereditary right to call you — give me 
leave to remind you seriously of the goodness of God 
in this respect, and to call upon you, as in his name, 
to make a proper improvement. I doubt not but that, 
in the intervals of your disorder, you had some solemn 
thoughts of death and eternity. I doubt not but that 
you cried to God, and formed some purposes for his 
service ; but I know how ready our treacherous hearts 
are to pass over such deliverances, and to forget those 
vows of God that are upon us ; and therefore let me, 
with all simplicity and plainness, though at the same 
time, with sincere respect, renew the admonition as in 
the name of my great Lord and Master, who, I would 
hope, means you graciously in inclining me to write 
to you upon this occasion. 

" I would then beseech you seriously to examine 
your heart and ways, and to ask yourself before God, 
* What if the fever had finished its work, and brought 
me down to the dust of death, and my spirit had re- 
turned to God who gave it, how would it have been 
received by him V 

" You are descended from the most gracious par- 
ents whom I think I ever knew. But they cannot 
convey grace to you. Even from them, excellent as 
they are, you derive a corrupt nature. Ask your 
own heart then, ' Have I ever been earnest with God 
for renewing grace ? Have I ever pleaded with him 
in prayer, that I might experience that change which 
the gospel requires, and without which no man can 
enter into the kingdom of heaven V 



HIS PUBLISHED WORKS. 351 

" These are matters of infinite importance, which 
must lie at the root of all our future hopes, or those 
hopes will prove weaker than a spider's web. I be- 
seech you, therefore, dear sir, in the name of our Lord 
Jesus Christ, and by all your prospects of the eternal 
world, that you take these things under an attentive 
consideration. I hope you have thought of them. I 
would fain persuade myself to believe you are experi- 
mentally acquainted with them ; but I would counsel 
you to apply your heart to them more and more. 

" I know, sir, that in your circumstances of life 
innumerable temptations surround you, and it is good, 
in order to be fortified against them, that the heart 
be established with grace. You have all the encour- 
agement you can desire to attempt the work of serious 
religion, and that betimes ; for it must be done imme- 
diately, or perhaps it may not be done at all. You 
have a gracious God to go to, who is not willing that 
any should perish, but that all should come to repent- 
ance. You have a most compassionate Redeemer, 
who shed his blood for the salvation of perishing sin- 
ners, and I humbly hope, for your salvation. The 
Spirit of God has conquered hearts much harder than 
yours, even supposing you are in an unrenewed state. 
You are the seed of God's servants : you have a large 
stock of prayers laid up in the presence of God for 
you. I apprehend there is peculiar encouragement for 
such to seek the God of their fathers. I believe the 
Spirit strives peculiarly with them, and that when 
they seek it, it is more immediately and more fully 
communicated to them than generally to others. And 
sure I am that the early instructions they receive have 



352 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 



often a blessed resurrection in their hearts, even after 
they have been long forgotten; and that the seed, 
which seemed to have perished, often brings forth 
fruit in abundance; and therefore, dear sir, thank 
God, and take courage. In his name and strength 
set out on your heavenly pilgrimage, with -the word 
of God in your hand and heart, and with your eyes to 
the Spirit of God, as your guide and strength; and 
be assured that there are many who will bid you good 
speed in the name of the Lord. 

"I am not without hope that our gracious God 
may at length favor me with more immediate and 
renewed opportunities of serving you. [He was after- 
wards the doctor's pupil.] In the mean time be as- 
sured that, though personally unknown, I most cor- 
dially love you. Be assured my heart overflows with 
a true concern for your welfare ; that I pour out my 
soul before God in prayer on your account ; and that 
to hear of your health and happiness, and above all, 
that your soul prospers, will yield me unutterable 
delight." 

From Lady Frances Grardiner. 

" Leicester, Aug. 16, 1740. 
" I received with pleasure your obliging favor 
last Monday; and as all your letters are acceptable 
to the colonel and myself, this was particularly so, as 
it brought the agreeable news of your safe arrival at 
Northampton, and of your dear child's recovery. The 
colonel and I long much to see you and Mrs. Dod- 
dridge, to repay the kind visit you made us here. 
The colonel begs to know when you propose to ad- 
minister the sacrament again at Northampton, as he 






HIS PUBLISHED WORKS. 353 

lias some thoughts of being then with you. I bless 
God that my dear colonel has kept his health pretty 
well of late ; but I have suffered much for some time. 
I wish I were half as sensible of the diseases of my 
soul when it languishes, and were as much affected 
with it as" with those of a frail body. 

" I am desired by many who have had the pleasure 
of reading some of your charming hymns, to solicit 
you for the publication of them : and surely good Dr. 
Doddridge will not be , so cruel as to refuse what 
would oblige many, and I hope prove useful to thou- 
sands. 

The colonel offers you his sincere compliments 
in the most affectionate manner ; and we both join in 
the same to your lady, and beg leave to assure her of 
our real sympathy with her in her illness." 

The Right Honorable Lady Frances Erskine, 
daughter to the Earl of Buchan, was married to Col. 
Gardiner, July 11, 1726. In his life of Colonel Gar- 
diner, Dr. Doddridge says of her, "I shall not indulge 
myself in saying any thing of her, except it be, that 
the colonel assured me, when he had been happy in 
this intimate relation to her more than fourteen years, 
that the greatest imperfection he knew in her charac- 
ter was, 'that she valued and loved him more than 
he deserved f and little did he think, in the simplicity 
of heart with which he spoke this, how high an en- 
comium he was making upon her ; and how lasting an 
honor such a testimony must leave upon her name, 
long as the memory of it shall continue." 



354 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

To Mrs. Doddridge. 

"June 28, 1741. 

"If 1 oould envy you any thing, it would be Colonel 
Gardiner's company. Give my most respectful ser- 
vices to him, and tell him that I hope the happy turn 
which the Queen of Hungary's affairs have taken, 
(for which I heartily bless God,) will prevent the ne- 
cessity of his going to Flanders ; and I earnestly beg 
that if any timely application to the secretary of war, 
or any other person, can procure the continuance of 
his troop at Northampton, he would not omit it, for 
it would almost break my heart that we should be 
always thus, like buckets in a well. 

"I hope to preach at home August 15, and to 
administer the Lord's supper there August 22, if the 
church think fit. But if my dear colonel should leave 
us after August 15, I will administer it that day, for 
it is something very much like heaven to me, to meet 
that excellent Christian at the Lord's table." 

From Colonel Grardiner. 

" Ghent, Oct. 6, 1742. 
"I am favored with your very welcome letter of 
the third instant, for which I return you my hearty 
thanks. It has been matter of great praise to me 
upon a double account: first, that Mrs. Doddridge is 
in so good a way of recovery ; and also that our gra- 
cious God vouchsafes to give you such manifestations 
of his favor and loving-kindness. As for me, I am in 
a dry arid thirsty land, where no ' living water' is. 
Rivers of tears run down mine eyes, because nothing 
is to be heard in our Babel but blaspheming the name 
of my God ; and I am not honored as the instrument 



HIS PUBLISHED WORKS. 355 

of doing any great service. It is true I have reformed 
six or seven field officers from swearing. I dine every 
day with them, and have enticed them into a volun- 
tary contract to pay a shilling to the poor for every 
oath, and it is wonderful to observe the effect it has 
had already. 

"I received, some days ago, a letter from Mr. 
Whitefield: the accounts I have had of that man, 
both when in England and since I came here, have 
ravished my soul. If my heart deceives me not, I 
would rather be the persecuted, despised Whitefield, 
to be an instrument in the hand of the Spirit for con- 
verting so many souls, and building up others in their 
most holy faith, than to be emperor of the whole 
world. 

" My dear friend, I wrote to you that I was in 
hopes of having the pleasure of seeing you this winter, 
and to be sure it would have been a great one to me ; 
but we poor mortals form projects, and the almighty 
Ruler of the universe disposes of all as he pleases. 
A great many of us were getting ready for our return 
to England, when, to the great surprise of the whole 
army, my Lord Stair not excepted, we received an 
order to march towards Frankfort; neither can any 
of us comprehend what we are to do there, for there 
is no enemy in that country. But it is the will of the 
Lord ; and his will be done. I desire to bless and 
praise my heavenly Father that I am entirely resign- 
ed to it. It is no matter where I go, or what becomes 
of me, so that God may be glorified in my life and by 
my death. 

"I think you have undertaken a noble work, and 



356 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

I hope our gracious God will give you the wished-for 
success. Pray remember me kindly to Mrs. Dod- 
dridge, and to all those with you that love our Lord 
Jesus Christ in sincerity. How much do I stand in 
need of your prayers. I hope God will bless you and 
yours, more and more." 

From Thomas Gardiner, Esq. 

" Edinburgh, Sept. 24, 1745. 

"I am deeply concerned that I commence your 
correspondent on an occasion that will very sensibly 
affect you with sorrow. 

"Upon the 21st instant, in the morning, about 
daybreak, a very bloody engagement was fought at 
the very door of our mutually valuable friend Col. 
Gardiner, who, alas, has fallen, to the regret of all his 
friends, as you will believe ; but I must also tell you, 
to the grief of all on the other side against which he 
was engaged. 

"His affectionate lady was left by him in Stirling 
castle, thirty miles distant. Miss Fanny is with her, 
and the other children are safe. 

" As to the circumstances of the colonel's death, I 
can acquaint you that he died as a Christian, and ac- 
knowledged by all against whom he was engaged as 
a brave officer. His own regiment of dragoons was 
routed in the beginning of the action, and he then 
charged at the head of the foot, till he had received 
three wounds, one in his shoulder with a bullet, one 
in his forehead with a broad sword, and the mortal 
wound, which was in his hindhead, with a Lochaber 
axe, an instrument the Highlanders fight with; and 



HIS PUBLISHED WORKS. 357 

this he received when making a blow with his sword 
at one of the officers he engaged. 

"He was this day decently interred in his own 
burying-place, in the church of Tranent, where lie 
eight of his children. I sent an express to Stirling, 
directed to my correspondent there, who is the pres- 
ent mayor of the town, and desired he would cause 
one of the ministers to acquaint the worthy Lady 
Frances of the fact, which was done before any other 
account had come to her ears. I should be glad to 
know how Mr. David Gardiner bears it." 

From the Rev. John Barker. 

"January 12, 1746. 

"I promised never to expect any letters from you, 
nor to take it amiss if I had none, knowing how much 
better you are employed than in writing to your 
friends. That I love to see a letter from you now and 
then is undeniable ; and that you love your friends, 
and love to tell them so, is easily to be inferred from 
the benevolence of your nature, and the overflowing 
tenderness of your heart ; so that you will never suffer 
any blame from me, whatever date my last unanswered 
letter may happen to bear. 

u 1 thank you for your fine sermon on the lament- 
able death of that eminent Christian and gallant sol- 
dier Colonel Gardiner. I believe every body will 
allow it to be a fine discourse, and grant that your 
affection has not transported you beyond the bounds 
of prudence. His death is a heavy affliction ; but this 
comes of continuing to sojourn in this dying world; 
and what great matter is it by what disease or disas- 
ter a good man is released from labor and sorrow? 



358 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

To be fond of life, and full of the world, and minding 
the things of the flesh, is less manly than grasping at 
a shadow. Reason and experience teach us that such 
things will no more yield substantial happiness to an 
immortal spirit, than the picture of food will satisfy 
our bodily hunger, or the sound of falling waters 
quench our thirst. But to live for eternity, to be 
upon good terms with God, to be steady and regular 
in our Christian profession, easy and lively in our 
devotion, tolerably free from unequal burdens and 
distracting cares, cheerful in our work, patient in 
our trials, and absolutely subject to the all-glorious 
Author, Lord, and Life of the whole creation ; to be 
composed when others are perplexed, and daily bless- 
ing God, and daily blessed by Him, easy in life, calm 
in the approach of death, and happy in the hope of 
heaven — this is true Christian consolation, and shows 
the religion of our divine Master to some advantage. 
And what is death to such a man but a release, a fa- 
vor, a speedy conveyance to the full possession of all 
its hopes and joys? Thus, Doddridge, is it with that 
devout, dutiful, laborious, benevolent spirit of thine ; 
while mine, unless I increase my diligence and speed 
by such books and such an example as yours, and 
God be merciful to me, will be like an ill-favored 
plant, languishing, fruitless, and ready to wither ; or 
at best, not like a tree planted by a river of water, 
living, flourishing, and fruitful. 

" The face of public affairs seems changed a good 
deal for the better. I hope Providence is bringing 
about our deliverance out of the hands of our merci- 
less enemies; and that the rebels at home, and the 



HIS PUBLISHED WORKS. 359 

French at Boulogne, are now more afraid of us than 
we are of them ; so gracious is God to his people, and 
so loath does he seem to give up these favored na- 
tions. 

"I wish I was able to give you any very good 
account of the state of religion among us. I see with 
joy the spirit of prayer among good people continues 
lively and vigorous ; but what shall I say of our great 
people, or common people, or of the success of the gos- 
pel, or of a zeal for the glory of God, the honor of 
Christ, and the revival of the doctrines of the Refor- 
mation, and of the growth of pure and vital religion? 

for the pouring out of the Spirit of the Lord from 
on high." 

From the Rev. Thomas Hunt, D. D. 

"Hertford College, Feb. 26, 1746. 
"Many thanks for your excellent sermon on the 
death of the valiant and worthy Colonel Gardiner. 

1 was most sensibly affected with it ; nor can I easily 
tell you whether I was most pleased with the inge- 
nuity of the discourse, or moved with the tenderness 
of the application. Both your lamentation over your 
dead friend, and your moving epistle to his disconso- 
late widow, are plainly formed on Horace's plan, si 
vis me flere, etc., and therefore it is no wonder they 
should draw tears from your readers, as I assure you 
they did not only from my dear Mrs. Hunt, but from 
myself, in great abundance. How mournfully pleasing 
to Lady Frances must the honor you have done her 
gallant consort be! And as for the deceased hero 
himself, methinks I hear every brave soldier in the 
British army saluting his ashes, in the words of Alex- 



360 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

ander, when he stood before the tomb of Achilles, and 
reflected on the honor that had been done that war- 
rior by the verses of Homer, 

" * fortunate Gardinere, qui tuse virtutis 
Talem prseconem inveneris V 

At least, I am sure these would be their sentiments 
were your sermon put into their hands, as I could 
heartily wish that it were. I need not tell you how 
glad I should be to see the remarkable passages of a 
life, the conclusion of which was so glorious. 

"I am glad to hear that the third volume of your 
1 Family Expositor' is in such forwardness. It is a 
work calculated to do great good, and will therefore, 
I hope, soon be in the hands of every serious family 
in the kingdom. May God give you life and health 
to finish this, and every other design for the advance- 
ment of his religion and the benefit of mankind." 

From the Rev. W. Warburton, D. D. 

" Prior Park, Oct. 10, 1747. 

"I had the favor of your letter, and along with it 
1 Colonel Gardiner's Life/ which I have just read 
through with great pleasure. Nothing can be better 
or more judicious than the writing part. 

" Many considerations made the subject of great im- 
portance and expediency. The celebration of worthy 
men who sacrificed themselves for the service of their 
country ; the tribute paid to private friendship ; the 
example, particularly to the soldiery, of so much vir- 
tue and piety, as well as courage and patriotism ; the 
service done to the survivors of their families, are 
such important considerations as equally co**:ern the 
writer and the public. 



HIS PUBLISHED WORKS. 361 

" I had a thousand things to remark in it which give 
me pleasure, but I have room only for two or three. 
The distinction you settle between piety and enthu- 
siasm is highly just and important, and very neces- 
sary for these times, when men are apt to fall into the 
opposite extremes. Nor am I less pleased with your 
observations on the 'mutilated form of Christianity : 7 
we see the terrible effects of it. Your hymns are 
truly pious and poetical. I entirely agree in your 
sentiments concerning the extraordinary circumstances 
of the good man's conversion. On the whole, the book 
will do you honor, or, what you like better, will be a 
blessing to you by its becoming an instrument of pub- 
lic good." 

From the Rev. It. Pearsall. 

" Taunton, Nov. 2, 1747. 
"The imminent danger of a father, it is said, burst 
the restraints of a tongue that had never spoken; a 
different event, producing a different passion, causes 
me to break a long silence: I mean your 'Life of 
Colonel Gardiner. 7 And how shall I express my joy 
and thanks? I want words : affections uncommonly 
great swell the mind, and crowd to the outlet of the 
soul, and obstruct the passage of words. I own I 
longed greatly for the publication, and am abundant- 
ly satisfied. I congratulate the church of Christ upon 
such an addition to its treasure. I would glorify God 
in him, and on your account too. Adored be that 
grace which rescued such a vessel out of the snare of 
the devil, and that in a way so extraordinary; and 
which strengthened the redeemed captive to stand his 
ground, and to oppose all the methods of the roaring 

Doddridge. 1 Q 



362 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

lion and cunning serpent, and to remain in the midst 
of showers of darts more than a conqueror. 

" Indeed, the whole book opens a scene of wonders 
which, I pray, may be blessed to the awakening and 
confirming of many souls. I wish it may be read by 
the whole army, and weighed according to its deserts 
by all, from the duke himself to the meanest soldier 
who carries a musket. And, my good friend, blessed 
be you of the Lord, who have been the honored instru- 
ment of holding forth so glorious a light to the view 
of thousands. 

" Such a remarkable event as the colonel's conver- 
sion, such a system of sentiments as those which he 
imbibed, such a spirit as that which animated him, 
and such sacred joys as crowned all, will be animad- 
verted on in a way agreeable to every one's taste ; so 
that you will not wonder if, in this rational, self-opin- 
ionated, erroneous, and unbelieving age, some may 
call it a scene of enthusiasm, and load it and you with 
reproaches ; and indeed, doctor, you stand fairer than 
ever for the honor of being a sort of martyr, I mean 
in your character, for the glorious cause of gospel 
truth, vital religion, and free grace. I trust, in the 
midst of all, you will not be dismayed." 

To the Rev. Samuel Clarke, D. D. 

" Northampton, Jan. 1, 1748. 
" I thankfully own the goodness of God in the kind 
reception which Colonel Gardiner's Memoirs have 
met with, at which I wonder much more than at the 
faults found by some, or even at the virulent Scotch 
pamphlet addressed to me on the occasion. I have the 
satisfaction to hear that a blessing seems to have at- 



HIS PUBLISHED WORKS. 363 

tended the book to some military men of considerable 
rank, and to some persons of quality about the court. 
Of this I am informed by a very obliging letter, which 
I may perhaps give you, but I must beg you will not 
make it public. They are translating the memoirs 
into Dutch, in which language ' The Rise and Prog- 
ress 7 is already published, and I believe a French 
translation will soon follow. I hope it is a better 
principle than the desire of applause that makes these 
last advices so comfortable to me as they are." 

From G-ilbert West, Esq., LL. D. 
[Author of " Observations on the Resurrection of Christ."] 

" Wickham, March 14, 1748. 

" Upon my going to town some time ago I received, 
by your order, a present of your Memoirs of Colonel 
Gardiner, for which mark of your regard I return you 
my particular thanks, over and above those which are 
due to you from every one who wishes well to Chris- 
tianity, for this and your many other zealous labors 
in that noble cause. 

" Example has always a greater influence upon the 
generality of mankind than precept, though founded 
upon the strongest reason, and enforced by the high- 
est authority; it cannot, therefore, but be very ser- 
viceable to the men of this world, and particularly of 
this age, to show them, from the instances of Colonel 
Gardiner, and the three excellent brothers whom you 
treat of in your appendix, that it is possible for a man 
to be a sincere Christian, and at the same time a sol- 
dier and a gentleman, characters that are but too com- 
monly thought inconsistent. All I am afraid of is, 
that the example of Colonel Gardiner should be look- 



364 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

ed upon as too bright for imitation. Men of cool 
hearts are apt to suspect those degrees of zeal which 
they never felt, to be unnatural and affected; for 
which reason I could wish that you had not inserted 
so many of those rapturous strains of piety, which 
Colonel Gardiner poured into the bosoms of those 
friends to whom he opened all his heart. Those 
Christians, indeed, whose piety is warmed to the same 
exalted pitch, may be touched and thrilled by them, 
and like unisons, answer in the same key ; and I am 
persuaded there are many such. But to the generali- 
ty of men, especially men of the world, I am afraid 
these strains, the genuine effusions only of those hearts 
which are smitten with the love of religion, will give 
the whole character of Colonel Gardiner an air of 
enthusiasm ; an effect which the warmth of your affec- 
tion for that excellent man, and your intimate know- 
ledge of him, kept you, I dare say, from suspecting. 

" This, and a few peculiarities of expression, are 
the only exceptionable things in your book ; but they 
are abundantly outweighed by the many strokes of 
piety and good sense which appear in almost every 
page. One I cannot help taking notice of to you 
upon this occasion, namely, your remarks upon the 
•advantage of an early education in the principles of 
religion, because I have myself most happily experi- 
enced it ; since I owe to the early care of a most excel- 
lent woman, my mother, whose character, I dare say, 
you are no stranger to, that bent and bias to religion, 
which, with the cooperating grace of God, hath at 
length brought me back to those paths of peace, from 
whence I might have otherwise been in danger of 



HIS PUBLISHED WORKS. 365 

deviating for ever. The parallel between me and 
Colonel Gardiner was in this instance too striking 
not to affect me exceedingly. I hope, therefore, that 
you will pardon me for mentioning it. I should also 
beg your pardon for delivering so freely my senti- 
ments of your book, could I imagine that speaking 
truth would be offensive to a lover of truth, and did 
I not think that general praise, or a total silence on 
this occasion, was inconsistent with the character of a 
friend ; a character which I am ambitious of deserv- 
ing at your hands. 

" I have frequent letters from that admirable friend 
of ours, Rev. John Jones of Alconbury, which give 
me great pleasure, as they breathe the true benevolent 
spirit of Christianity. I am glad to find that Chris- 
tianity begins to be so well understood, and taught 
by so many men of parts and learning in all sects; 
the fruits of which appear in a candor and charity 
unknown to all the ages of the church, except the 
primitive, I had almost said the apostolic age. Does 
not this give you a prospect, though perhaps still very 
distant, of the completion of the famous prophecy that 
speaks of the lion and the lamb lying down together 
in the kingdom of the Messiah ? Lions there have been 
hitherto in all churches, though often disguised like 
lambs ; and some lambs have there been simple enough 
to think it expedient for the flock to assume the hab- 
its and terrors of lions. But I hope they now begin 
to undeceive themselves, and to consider Christianity 
as intending to bring back the world to that state of 
innocence which it enjoyed before the fall, when in 
one and the same Paradise, to use the words of Milton, 



366 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

" ' Frisking, played 
All beasts of the earth, since wild, and of all chase, 
In wood or wilderness, forest or den: 
Sporting, the lion romped, and in his paw 
Dandled the kid.' 

To attain this happy state, all Christians should unite 
their endeavors ; and instead of looking out for and 
insisting upon points of difference and distinction, seek 
for those only in which they do or may agree. They 
may at least sow the seeds of peace and unity, though 
they should not live to reap the fruits in this world. 
1 Blessed are the peacemakers/ says the Prince of 
peace, ' for they shall be called the children of God,' 
an appellation infinitely more honorable than that of 
archbishop, patriarch, cardinal, or pope, and attended 
with a recompense infinitely surpassing the richest 
revenues of the highest ecclesiastical dignity." 

From the Eev. Francis Ayscough, D. D. 

" Cliffden, Sept. 8, 1748. 

11 1 took the first opportunity, after my return, to 
present the third volume of your Expositor, with your 
most humble duty, to her Royal Highness, and I have 
her commands to return you her thanks for it ; and I 
must beg you to accept the same from myself for that 
which you sent me, [the Life of Colonel Gardiner,] 
and indeed I think it a very good and useful perform- 
ance. Did I not really think so, God forbid that I 
should tell you so ; for 1 think no compliment should 
be made in any thing which relates to, or is to direct 
the faith and morals of mankind. 

" I thank you much for your prayers for the young 
royal family. I hope they have been effectual, for I 



HIS PUBLISHED WORKS. 367 

can most truly assure you that they go on very well, 
and promise to be a future blessing to the nation." 

It gives us great pleasure now to call attention to 
the noblest literary and theological production of our 
author's genius, learning, critical acumen, and preemi- 
nent piety: "The Family Expositor, containing a 
Version and Paraphrase of the New Testament, with 
Critical Notes, and a practical Improvement of each 
Section." Such is its title, and such is a brief but 
complete description of its valuable contents. From 
his introduction into the ministry he had a work of 
this kind in view, and sedulously directed all his sub- 
sequent studies to the accumulation of materials for 
it, or to the preparation of his own mind for accom- 
plishing the task in a creditable and useful manner. 
The first two volumes, as soon as ready, were pub- 
lished by subscription ; the names of the learned, the 
noble, and the devout, swelled the list ; the last three 
were published after the decease of the lamented au- 
thor. The new version given by him does great credit 
to his learning, taste, and judgment. In 1765 it was 
extracted from the paraphrase with which it was in- 
corporated, and published, with some alterations, by 
the editor, in a separate volume, an introduction and 
some short notes being included. 

The author lived long enough to finish his para- 
phrase and improvement of the epistles of the New 
Testament, and of the book of the Revelation, and to 
write these out fairly in shorthand. He had also 
added the principal notes which were designed for 
publication. The manuscript volume containing the 



368 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

Revelation, is concluded in these words : " Through 
the good hand of God upon me, which I desire most 
thankfully to acknowledge, I ended the first copy of 
the Family Expositor Dec. 31, 1748, exactly two years 
after I began to write upon the Romans ; having pur- 
sued it during that time without the interruption of 
one single day; such health and such resolution did 
it please God to give me, amid the various scenes of 
business, danger, and amusement, through which I 
passed. May his grace raise to himself a monument 
of praise from this feeble effort to explain, illustrate, 
and enforce his word." Afterwards he writes, "I 
ended my notes on the books I had thus paraphrased 
and improved, Aug. 21, 1749, having daily pursued 
the work in like manner, whether at home or abroad." 

The manuscript preparations detailed above were 
transcribed after the author's decease by Rev. Job 
Orton, or under his inspection by some of the pupils 
of Dr. Doddridge, from the shorthand copy. In the 
year 1750, during the author's lifetime, a fire origi- 
nated among his papers, which very soon would have 
destroyed the valuable toils of many years. 

No one can read without deep interest the account 
which he himself gives of the event in a letter 

To the Hev. Benjamin Fawcett. 

" Northampton, June 26, 1750. 
" As I was setting out on my blessed journey to 
Lady Huntingdon, for such indeed it was, yesterday 
was sevennight, a terrible accident happened in my 
study which might have been attended with fatal con- 
sequences. I had been sealing a letter with a little 



HIS PUBLISHED WORKS. 369 

roll of wax, and I thought I had blown it out, when, 
fanned by the motion of the air, as I rose in haste, it 
was rekindled. It burned about a quarter of an hour 
while we were at prayer, and would have gone on to 
consume perhaps the closet and the house, had not my 
opposite neighbor seen the flames and given an alarm. 
When I came up I found my desk, which was covered 
with papers, burning like an altar. Many letters, 
papers of memorandums, and schemes for sermons, 
were consumed. My book of accounts was on fire, 
and the names at the top almost burnt through, a vol- 
ume of the Family Expositor, the original manuscript 
from Corinthians to Ephesians, surrounded with flames, 
and drenched in melted wax. The fire had kindled up 
around it, and burned off some leaves, and the corners 
of the other books, so that there is not one leaf entire ; 
and yet so did God moderate the rage of this ele- 
ment, and determine in his providence the time of our 
entrance, that not one account is rendered uncertain 
by what it suffered, nor is one line which had not been 
transcribed destroyed in the manuscript. I have to 
add, that all my sermons and manuscripts intended 
for the press, and among the rest the remainder of 
the Family Expositor, were all in such danger, that 
the fire, in an another quarter of an hour, had proba- 
bly consumed them. Observe, my dear friend, the 
hand of God, and magnify the Lord with me. 

" I earnestly beg your prayers, and entreat you to 
salute my praying friends with redoubled salutations 
in this view, and with this message, 'The grace of 
our Lord Jesus Christ be with all your spirits, and 
with your families/" 

16* 



310 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

To the Rev. Samuel "Wood, D. D. 

" Northampton, April 9, 1751. 

" My heart has been much set on promoting the 
youth's scheme, but to my great grief I have not found 
in many of our congregations that encouragement which 
I hoped. Something however is done, and much more 
in proportion from London than from the country. 
There are, however, nine lads, some of them very 
promising, who are supported by it; I sometimes 
think two of them will offer themselves as missiona- 
ries to New York, to plant the gospel among the In- 
dians there, and glad at my heart should I be if my 
only son were desirous of being the third. 

"I am at present under great concern for the ill- 
ness, I fear the dangerous illness of my generous, 
faithful, endeared friend Mr. Lyttelton. It is the 
smallest part of this concern, that it prevents him 
from doing that service to my subscription to the 
remaining volumes of the Family Expositor, which he 
was resolved to have attempted, and which, with so 
great an interest, he might probably enough have 
effected. The greater part of that disappointment to 
me is, that it may prevent its coming into the hands 
of some in higher life, to whom it may otherwise have 
no access; but God limits or extends all such pros- 
pects at pleasure ; and I desire to refer it to him, with 
what degrees of encouragement the work shall be pub- 
lished, and indeed whether it shall be published or 
not. The three volumes will hardly be published at 
so small a price as a thousand pounds, and I shall 
judge it the part of prudence, and therefore of duty, 
not to send them to the press on any terms on which 



HIS PUBLISHED WORKS. 3U 

I shall not be secure ; and if there be such a number 
subscribed or bespoke by booksellers as to effect that, 
I shall go on with the publication as fast as I can, 
and bless God for such an opportunity of doing my 
public homage to his word, and endeavoring, with all 
integrity and simplicity, to make it understood, and 
to enforce it on men's consciences, according to the 
little ability he has been pleased to give me; which 
truly I think so little, that I am sometimes almost 
ashamed of having undertaken so great a work. 

" I have of late been much indisposed with a cold, 
which is returned again, but not with so much violence 
as before. I know I have your prayers, and I delight 
in the thought we are tending to one blessed home. 
Our interview at Norwich was pleasant; how much 
more so will that be which we expect in our Father's 
house. This poor letter has been written raptim at 
several times. I have filled my four pages, and yet 
seem but to have begun. But I must conclude with 
every good wish for you and yours that the tenderest 
friendship can form." 

Dr. Thomas Hartwell Home characterizes the 
Expositor as a masterly work, an admirable commen- 
tary, and quotes with approbation the opinion of it 
expressed by Dr. Barrington, late Bishop of Durham, 
in addressing his clergy on the choice of books : " In 
reading the New Testament I recommend Dr. Dod- 
dridge's ' Family Expositor/ as an impartial interpre- 
ter and faithful monitor. Other expositions and com- 
mentaries might be mentioned, greatly to the honor 
of their respective authors, for their several excellen- 



812 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

ces, such as elegance of exposition, acuteness of illus- 
tration, and copiousness of erudition; but I know of 
no expositor who unites so many advantages as Dr. 
Doddridge; whether you regard the fidelity of his 
version, the fulness and perspicuity of his composition, 
the utility of his general and historical information, 
the impartiality of his doctrinal comments, or lastly, 
the piety and pastoral earnestness of his moral and 
religious applications. He has made, as he professes 
to have done, ample use of the commentators that pre- 
ceded him; and in the explanation of grammatical 
difficulties, he has profited much more from the philo- 
logical writers on the Greek Testament than could 
almost have been expected in so multifarious an un- 
dertaking as the Family Expositor. Indeed, for all 
the most valuable purposes of a commentary on the 
New Testament, the Family Expositor cannot fall too 
early into the hands of those intended for holy or- 
ders." 

Bishops Watson and Tomline, and various other 
theological instructors of high repute in England and 
in this country, join in the recommendation of this 
excellent production. 

One short extract of a letter from Warburton to 
Doddridge, soon after he had received the first vol- 
ume of the " Family Expositor," will show something 
of the friendship between them : " Before I left the 
country I had the pleasure of receiving your ' Family 
Expositor.' My mother and I took it by turns. She, 
who is superior to me in every thing, aspired to the 
divine learning of the l Improvements/ while I kept 
grovelling in the human learning of the notes below. 



HIS PUBLISHED WORKS. 3?3 

The result of all was, that she says she is sure you 
are a very good man, and I am sure you are a very 
learned one." 

Of the preparation, the admirable qualities, and 
benign effects of this production, nothing could be 
said more beautiful or just than has been put forth by 
Dr. James Hamilton, in the North British Eeview : 

" It is delightful to us to think of all the joys with 
which, for twenty years, that Expositor filled the dear 
mind of Dr. Doddridge ; how one felicitous rendering 
was suggested after another; how a bright solution 
of a textual difficulty would rouse him an hour before 
his usual time, and set the study fire a blazing at four 
o'clock of a winter's morning ; and then how beauti- 
ful the first quarto looked as it arrived with its laid 
sheets and snowy margins. We see him setting out 
to spend a week's holiday at St. Albans, or with the 
Honorable Mrs. Scawen, at Maidwell, and packing 
the ' apparatus criticus ' into the spacious saddle-bags ; 
and we enjoy the prelibation with which Dr. Clarke 
and a few cherished friends are favored. We sympa- 
thize in his dismay when word arrives that Dr. Guyse 
has forestalled his design, and we are comforted when 
the doctor's chariot lumbers on, and no longer stops 
the way. We are even glad at the appalling accident 
which set on fire the manuscript of the concluding 
volume, charring its edges, and bathing it all in mol- 
ten wax; for we know how exulting would be the 
thanks for its deliverance. We can even fancy the 
pious hope dawning in the writer's mind, that it might 
prove a blessing to the princess to whom it was in- 
scribed ; and we can excuse him if, with bashful dis- 



374 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

allowance, he still believed the fervid praises of For- 
dyce and Warburton, or tried to extract an atom of 
intelligent commendation from the stately compli- 
ments of bishops. 

"But far be it from us to insinuate that the chief 
value of the Expositor was the pleasure with which it 
supplied the author. If not so minutely erudite as 
some later works which have profited by German 
research, its learning is still sufficient to shed honor 
on the writer, and on a community debarred from 
colleges; and there must be original thinking in a 
book which is by some regarded as the source of 
Palsy's ' Horse Paulinas.' But next to its practical 
observations, its chief excellence is its paraphrase. 
There the sense of the sacred writers is rescued from 
the haze of too familiar words, and is transfused into 
language not only fresh and expressive, but congenial 
and devout; and while difficulties are fairly and ear- 
nestly dealt with, instead of a dry grammarian or a 
one-sided polemic, the reader constantly feels that he 
is in the company of a saint and a scholar. And al- 
though we could name interpreters more profound, 
and analysts more subtle, we know not any who has 
proceeded through the whole New Testament with so 
much candor, or who has brought to its elucidation 
truer taste and holier feeling. He lived to complete 
the manuscript, and to see three volumes published. 
He was cheered to witness its acceptance with all the 
churches; and to those who love his memory, it is a 
welcome thought to think in how many myriads of 
closets and family circles its author when dead has 
spoken. And as his death in a foreign land forfeited 



HIS PUBLISHED WORKS. 315 

the insurance by which he had somewhat provided for 
his family, we confess to a certain comfort in knowing 
that the loss was replaced by this literary legacy. 
But the great source of complacency is, that He to 
whom the work was consecrated had a favor for it, 
and has given it the greatest honor that a human 
book can have, making it extensively the means of 
explaining and endearing the book of God." 

From the Rev. John Barker. 

" Walthamstow, July 4, 1749. 
11 1 have several reasons for writing so soon again 
to my dear and reverend friend ; the first of which is, 
to congratulate him on his birthday. What you say 
of it is hardly civil. Had you said it to an enemy, it 
had been exceptionable, but to a friend it is intolera- 
ble. What, have you prayed and preached, and 
written so many useful, learned, profitable books at 
forty-seven years of age, and yet call your next birth- 
day ' the forty-eighth year of an unprofitable and sinful 
life V Give me leave, sir, to bless God for your life 
and labors, and to tell you that I know not a more 
profitable or a less sinful life than yours in this world ; 
and I pray God may prolong it for his glory, and the 
good of his church." 

It appears from his correspondence that Dr. Dod- 
dridge entertained much concern for the propagation 
of Christianity among the aborigines of this country. 
He wrote a dedication of an abridgment of David 
Brainerd's journal of his missions among the Indians 
of New Jersey and Pennsylvania, to the Honorable 
Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge in the 



376 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

Highlands of Scotland, and in Popish and Infidel 
Parts of the World. Of this society, Dr. Doddridge 
was one of the corresponding secretaries, and Mr. 
Brainerd was a missionary. Writing under date of 
August 25, 1750, to the Rev. Samuel Wood, D. D., he 
says, 

" You may remember that there were three affairs 
of a public nature which were the objects of my par- 
ticular solicitude : the procuring a third tutor for my 
academy, the providing for lads not yet fit for aca- 
demical education, and the doing something for the 
service of New Jersey, in the propagation of Chris- 
tianity abroad. Providence has accomplished the first 
of these schemes by the unexpected success of the sec- 
ond ; and has opened some promising hopes concern- 
ing the third, beyond what had entered into my mind 
when I parted with you. The want of ministers and 
students is so seen and felt, and the necessity of the 
scheme for educating lads not yet ripe for academical 
studies is grown so apparent, that between three and 
fourscore pounds per annum have been, without any 
pressing solicitations from me, subscribed for that pur- 
pose in and about London. 

"As for the scheme of the New Jerseys, Colonel 
Williams encourages me to hope that Mr. Pemberton, 
the minister at New York, on my favoring the scheme, 
as I certainly shall, will come to Britain, and make 
a tour over its northern and southern parts, carrying 
along with him two converted and civilized Indians, 
as a specimen of what has been already done. He 
proposes to attempt a collection in the chief congre- 
gations which he may visit on this journey, after which 



HIS PUBLISHED WORKS. 317 

he may very properly write such a letter in his own 
name to the dissenting ministers in England, as I 
expressed my thoughts of writing, and may with yet 
more propriety recommend and enforce the advice 
laid down in the preface to my sermon at Kettering. 77 

In 1748, Dr. Doddridge rendered a good service 
to the cause of piety and theological literature by 
revising the Expository and other works of Arch- 
bishop Leighton, and translating his Latin Prelec- 
tions, which were published at Edinburgh in two vol- 
umes. The editorial labor thus performed is described 
by himself in a letter to his friend Dr. Samuel Clarke, 
Oct. 22, 1747. 

"I have almost gone through my corrections of 
Archbishop Leighton's Commentary on Peter, which I 
esteem one of the most excellent pieces I have ever 
read; yet I never saw any thing equally incorrect. 
I have, with the striptest care, avoided adding or 
retrenching any thing, but I hope you will find them 
read the better for having passed through my hands. 
I have restored the true division of the sentences, 
which were everywhere perplexed, three or four being 
generally thrown into one ; and commas, colons, and 
periods everywhere confounded, so that they might 
frequently seem to be placed by chance. Besides, 
there was hardly a passage where there was not some 
word wanting to complete the sense, and frequently 
the most gross errors that can be imagined. I have 
received a large collection of his letters never before 
printed ; among them are those from which Mr. Ben- 
net made his extracts in his Christian Oratory. 



318 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

" I have seen Mr. West, with whose conversation 
I am charmed, and who seems to breathe in a remark- 
able manner the true spirit of Christianity. I have 
engaged him, I hope, to pursue a work of which I had 
once some thoughts myself, but which I was extremely 
glad should devolve upon one capable of executing it 
so well. I mean the Proof of Christianity which 
arises from what remains of the writings of Celsus; 
and I doubt not that the world will then see, in a 
stronger manner than it was aware, that ' out of the 
eater cometh forth meat, and out of the strong sweet- 
ness.' " , 

The revised edition of Leighton, so largely indebt- 
ed for its acceptableness to the taste, diligence, and 
care of Dr. Doddridge, appeared in two volumes, hav- 
ing consumed a large amount of valuable time ; yet, 
perhaps, time could not have been more usefully em- 
ployed, for, as Mr. Orton says, the delight and edifica- 
tion which he found in the writings of this wonderful 
man, whom he calls an adept in true Christianity, he 
esteemed a full equivalent for his pains, separate from 
the prospect of the good effect which they might ex- 
ert on others. Dr. Doddridge, in his preface, states 
that he never spent a quarter of an hour in reviewing 
any of them, but amidst the interruption which a crit- 
ical examination of the copy would naturally give, he 
felt some impressions which he desired always to re- 
tain. He found in them such heart-affecting lessons 
of simplicity and humility, candor and benevolence, 
exalted piety without the least tincture of enthusiasm, 
and an entire mortification of every earthly interest 
without any mixture of splenetic resentment, as he 



HIS PUBLISHED WORKS. 379 

thought co aid hardly be found anywhere else but in 
the sacred oracles. He expressed a cheerful hope 
that God would make the revised work the means of 
promoting true Christianity, and that spirit of Cathol- 
icism for which the archbishop was so remarkable, and 
also of extending it among various denominations of 
Christians in Great Britain. 

Of the Hymns written by Doddridge, of which his 
biographer Orton published after his death nearly four 
hundred, much might be said. Many of them, as we 
have already intimated, were expressly prepared to 
be sung after his sermons by a congregation of plain 
people, who, with many others, had often requested 
their publication; but the time of their author was 
wholly occupied in what he regarded more important 
labors. Orton arranged them according to the order 
of the texts on which they were founded, with a pref- 
ace, and notes in which he explained words which he 
considered "not sufficiently intelligible to common 
readers," and " added some more plain and familiar 
ones in the margin, that they may be read and sung 
with understanding." It is somewhat amusing to see 
among the words claiming in the editor's opinion to 
have "more plain and familiar ones" — "Hail," "la- 
tent," "stern," "pervades," "Afric," etc. Some time 
after they were published, Mrs. Doddridge wrote to 
Orton, under date of May 4, 1755, "I have the pleas- 
ure to find, so far as this book has yet been known, it 
has met with pretty general acceptance. Many of my 
best friends consider it as a valuable supplement to 
Dr. Watts, and as such are solicitous to introduce it 



380 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

into their respective congregations. I think I can 
truly say I wish this may be generally done, more 
from the hope I have they may do something to revive 
religion in the world than from any personal advan- 
tage." In not a few English congregations the book 
was thus used in connection with " Watts' Psalms and 
Hymns," and the reader need not be told that many 
of them are yet retained in most of the hymn-books 
now used. 

From a manuscript written by Doddridge, which 
in 1836 was in the hands of an excellent English min- 
ister a few pleasant incidents may be gleaned as to 
the origin of some of these compositions. The well- 
known hymn, 

" Let Zion's watchmen all awake," 

was written on the occasion of an ordination, Oct. 
21, 1736. The hymn, 

" My God, thy service well demands," 

bearing for its title in Orton's volume, " On recovery 
from sickness, during which much of the Divine favor 
had been experienced," has in the manuscript this note : 
"Particularly intended for the use of a friend, Miss 
Nancy Bliss, who had been in the extremest danger 
by the bursting of an artery in her stomach. Nov. 
14, 1737." The second verse, as printed by Orton, 
stands : 

" Thine arms of everlasting love 
Did this weak frame sustain, 
When life was hovering o'er the grave, 
And nature sunk with pain." 

The closing couplet of this verse is, in the original, 



HIS PUBLISHED WORKS. 381 

far more poetical, and has a distinct reference to the 
occasion on which it was written : 

" When life in purple torrents flowed 
From every sinking vein." 

The beautiful hymn, less known than it should be, 

"Awake, my soul, to meet the day," 

was one of his productions. He rose every morning 
throughout the year at five o'clock, a habit to which 
we owe his " Family Expositor of the New Testament." 
This hymn originally consisted of seven verses, and 
was constantly used by him as an act of devotion, on 
which account he entitled it "A Morning Hymn, to 
be sung at Awaking and Rising." We are told that 
as the sixth verse was yet upon his lips, he sprang out 
of bed — 

" Pardon, God, my former sloth, 
And arm my soul with grace, 

As, rising now, I seal my vows 
To prosecute my ways." 

Instead of attempting to prepare a critical estimate 
of the great merit of Dr. Doddridge as an author, we 
prefer to introduce a letter from the learned Dr. Isaac 
Watts upon this subject, addressed to the Rev. David 
Longueville, minister of the English church in Amster- 
dam ; first giving a short letter to Dr. Doddridge, 
which enclosed or referred to a copy of the former. 

From the Rev. Isaac Watts, D. D. 

" Stoke Newington, Jan. 2G, 1746. 
"I know of nothing that I have taken amiss from 
you, nor would I have you suspect it. Let my letter 



382 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

of recommendation which I wrote to Mr. Longue- 
ville be a constant memorial to you how near you 
are to my heart, and that I suffer no slanders to make 
a division between us. I have much to thank you for, 
besides your daily prayers ; but I would take leave to 
admonish you, that your speaking of the books you 
design to publish so many months before any of them 
appear, does not do you much service ; your comment 
on the Acts especially, and your ' Life of Colonel Gar- 
diner/ have long been expected with tiresome desires, 
but I know your daily calls of duty fill up almost every 
inch of your time. 

"May the grace of God ever assist and bless you 
in all your labors and designs for his honor, and the 
praise of our dear Redeemer, which is much more on 
my heart as I come nearer to the end of my race." 

From the Rev. Dr. Watts to the Rev. David Longueville.- 

"Reverend Sir — It is a very agreeable employ- 
ment to which you call me, and a very sensible honor 
you put upon me, when you desire me to give you my 
sentiments of that renowned and learned writer Dr. 
Doddridge, to be prefixed to a translation of any of 
his works in the Dutch tongue. 

" I have well known him many years ; and have 
enjoyed a constant intimacy and friendship with him 
ever since the providence of God called him to be a 
professor of human sciences, and a teacher of sacred 
theology to young men among us, who are trained up 
for the ministry of the gospel. I have no need to 
give you a large account of his knowledge in the sci- 
ences, in which I confess him to be greatly my supe- 



HIS PUBLISHED WORKS. 383 

rior ; and as to the doctrines of divinity, and the 
gospel of Christ, I know not any man of greater skill 
than himself, and hardly sufficient to be his second. 
As he hath a most exact acquaintance with the things 
of God and our holy religion, so far as we are let 
into the knowledge of them by the light of nature 
and the revelations of Scripture, so he hath a most 
happy manner of teaching those who are younger. 
He hath a most skilful and condescending way of in- 
struction ; nor is there any person of my acquaintance 
with whom I more entirely agree in all the senti- 
ments of the doctrines of Christ. He is a hearty be- 
liever of the great articles and important principles 
of the reformed church ; a most affectionate preacher 
and pathetic writer on the practical part of religion; 
and, in one word, since I am now advanced in age, 
beyond my seventieth year, if there were any man to 
whom Providence would permit me to commit a sec- 
ond part of my life and usefulness in the church of 
Christ, Dr. Doddridge should be the man. 

"If you have read that excellent performance of 
his, 'The Rise and Progress/ etc., you will be of my 
mind; his dedication to me is the only thing in that 
book I could hardly permit myself to approve. Be- 
sides all this, he possesseth a spirit of so much charity, 
love, and goodness towards his fellow- Christians, who 
may fall into some lesser differences of opinion, as be- 
cometh a follower of the blessed Jesus, his Master 
and mine. 

"In the practical part of his labors and his minis- 
try, he hath sufficiently shown himself most happily 
furnished with all proper gifts and talents to lead per- 



384 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

sons of all ranks and ages into serious piety and strict 
religion. 

"I esteem it a considerable honor, which the prov- 
idence of God hath done me, when it makes use of me 
as an instrument to promote the usefulness of this great 
man in any part of the world : and it is my hearty 
prayer, that our Lord Jesus, the Head of the church, 
may bless all his labors with the most glorious suc- 
cess. 

" I am, reverend sir, with sincerity, your faithful 

humble servant, and affectionate brother in the gospel 

of our common Lord, 

" ISAAC WATTS." 

In closing this account of Doddridge as an author, 
we avail ourselves of a paragraph from Stoughton's 
Memorial, which conveys an accurate and just idea of 
his style of composition : 

"A remarkable evenness appears in Doddridge's 
compositions. They do not present much to provoke 
or invite criticism. Their faults are not such as to 
call for severe censure, nor their excellences such as 
to extort rapturous praise. In reading his works, we 
are not detained either by glaring imperfections or 
by glowing beauties, but we glide on quietly, pleased 
in a high degree by the calm loveliness of the whole 
prospect. Doddridge compared Baxter to Demos- 
thenes ; Kippis has paid Doddridge the compliment of 
comparing him to Cicero. The compliment betrays 
partiality, especially as it regards the diction of the 
English divine, which lacks the perfect finish and 
peerless rhythm of the classic model. There is a pol- 
ish, however, in Doddridge's style, such as we miss in 



HIS PUBLISHED WORKS. 385 

most of his non-conformist and many of his Episcopal 
predecessors. He had studied in the Addisonian 
school, but he suffered himself to indulge in too great 
a redundancy of expression ; yet many happy turns of 
language show his power over that instrument of 
thought ; and several of his hymns, while they pretend 
not to the higher characteristics of poetry, are em- 
inent examples of that mastery over words which 
makes a skilful versifier. His famous lines on the 
family motto, Bum vivimus vivamus, deserve the warm 
eulogium of the old king of critics, Dr. Johnson, as 
one of the finest epigrams in the English tongue. 

" Live while you live/' the epicure would say, 
" And seize the pleasures of the present day." 
" Live while you live," the sacred preacher cries, 
" And give to God each moment as it flies." 

Lord, in my life, let both united be ; 

I live in pleasure, when I live to Thee. 

To the above lines may be added those which were 
written by Dr. Doddridge, when his daughter wound- 
ed her foot by treading on a thorn : 

Oft have I heard the ancient sages say, 
" The path of virtue is a thorny way." 
If so, dear Celia, we may know 
Which path it is you tread, which way it is you go. 



»e«feU*«. IT 



386 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 



CHAPTER VII. 

PROMINENT TRAITS OF DR. DODDRIDGE. 

For the sketch now to be presented we are chiefly 
indebted to the Bev. Mr. Qrton, who, having been his 
pupil, his assistant, and most valued personal friend, 
was eminently qualified to present a faithful portrait- 
ure of the man he so justly venerated, and so ardently 
loved. 

1. Dr. Doddridge was remarkable for an in- 
dustrious AND UNTIRING APPLICATION TO THE DUTIES 
OF LIFE, AND FOR GREAT DISPATCH IN THE DISCHARGE 
OF THEM. 

This must have been seen in what has been already 
said of him as a student, a pastor, and an instructor ; 
but additional illustrations may be acceptable and 
useful. 

In his mature years he formed definite plans for 
the use of time, assigning to each hour the largest 
amount of work he was capable of performing. He 
was accustomed often to call himself to a rigid ac- 
count for the industry and the faithfulness with which 
such plans had been accomplished. He often wrote 
down severe self-accusations, while others, in their 
estimate of his labors, would have commended and 
admired his diligence. 

When entering upon the year 1737, he wrote, "I 
am come to the beginning of another year, which I 
am ready to believe will be the last. The Lord grant 
that whether it be so or not, it may be the best I ever 



HIS PROMINENT TRAITS. 387 

spent; a year of constant communion with God, of 
steady devotedness of soul to him. I have resolved 
to renew the following rules of life, and to endeavor 
to dispatch the following articles of business with the 
divine assistance. 1. To rise at six o'clock, winter 
and summer, unless urgent occasion prevent. 2. To 
begin the day on my knees, wherever I am and what- 
ever I have to do. 3. To read some portion of Scrip- 
ture, and if possible, to write some of my Family 
Expositor every morning. 4. To read something in 
a book of practical devotion. 5. To dispatch at least 
one letter every day, and to be more careful in an- 
swering my correspondents/ 6. To talk at least to 
one pupil a clay, when with them, about the affairs of 
his soul, more or less publicly or privately. 7. To 
visit as often as I can, especially from three in the 
afternoon, beyond which I would seldom be at home 
without great necessity. 8. To keep a more exact 
account of my expenses, and to lay out as much as I 
can in charity. 9. To eat more moderately, especially 
at supper, than I have for some time of late done, and 
to be less solicitous about the kind of my food. 10. 
To promote religious discourse more. 11. To read 
some Latin and Greek, if possible, every day. 12. 
To read the Scriptures in an evening, at least what I 
had written on in the morning. 13. To examine my- 
self. 14. To keep memorandums. 15. To lie down 
in a good frame, and endeavor to rise with God. 16. 
To endeavor, as much as I can, to live by rule. 17. 
To expect death every day." 

In writing to Dr. Samuel Clarke, Nov. 24, 1739 ? 
he makes this statement: "I bless God I have for a 



388 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

considerable time been perfectly well, and do not find 
myself fatigued by my labors ; though, indeed, except- 
ing an hour or two after dinner and supper, they have, 
while I am awake, hardly any intermission ; and I am 
obliged to make my nights short, with all which pre- 
cautions I am hardly able to answer the demands of 
service that lie upon me." 

We are told by his biographer, that he reckoned 
the smallest parcels of time precious, and was eager 
to save every moment, even while he was waiting for 
dinner, company, or the assembling of his pupils, that 
he might make some advance in the work he was 
about; that he was so solicitous to improve every 
moment that one of his pupils generally read to him 
while he was shaving and dressing, during which short 
intervals he was improving himself and them by re- 
marking upon their manner of reading, and upon the 
excellences or defects of sentiment and language in 
the book read ; that when he was on a journey, or 
occasional visits to his friends, where he spent the 
night, he took his papers with him, and employed all 
the time he could secure, especially his morning hours, 
in prosecuting some good work for his people, his 
students, or the world. While preparing his " Fami- 
ly Expositor," he wrote something for it every day: 
nor amid the constant labors of authorship for many 
years did he neglect the service of his students. " So 
far," says he, " as I can recollect, I never omitted a 
single lecture on account of any of the books that I 
have published. The truth is, I do a little* now and 
then; something every day, and that carries me on. 
I have written some of my pieces in shorthand, and 



HIS PROMINENT TRAITS. 389 

got them transcribed by my pupils, and thus I do by 
many letters. This is a help to me, and some con- 
siderable advantage to those whom I employ. I 
scarcely fail being in the lecture-room three hours 
every morning. 77 He often preached several evenings 
in the week in the different villages about Northamp- 
ton. His annual vacation, of two months, was usually 
passed, partly in close study, in pastoral visits, and in 
preaching among neighboring congregations at the 
request of their respective pastors, some of them being 
of different denominations and opinions from himself; 
partly in calling upon his friends in London and other 
parts of the kingdom for purposes of health, yet fre- 
quently preaching almost every day. 

To these occupations must be added his corre- 
spondence, which was almost sufficient of itself to 
engross the time of a man of ordinary industry and 
ability; hence, to save time, he often employed the 
pen of some pupil, to whom he dictated his letters, 
while he himself at the same time went on with other 
work. Sometimes a student read to him, while he 
was himself answering his correspondents. Corre- 
spondence was held not only with parents and guar- 
dians of his students, but with ministers, who often 
consulted him on questions of great moment, and ap- 
plied for counsel ; with learned men, desiring his 
opinion concerning critical difficulties, or works they 
were preparing for the press ; with distinguished cler- 
gymen and laymen of the established church, often on 
questions of great delicacy and importance ; with for- 
eign gentlemen and theologians, with whom he was 
obliged to correspond in Latin and French. Many 



390 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

hundred letters were received and answered in the 
course of a year. But he dispatched business with 
great facility. The contents of a book he rapidly 
possessed himself of, and so also his own thoughts 
were rapidly and clearly expressed even on the most 
abstruse points of inquiry. 

It is surprising that his originally feeble constitu- 
tion was adequate to such incessant application, and 
to so many engrossing forms of business. Recreation 
he did not seek, for useful mental toil was to him the 
highest pleasure. Doing nothing was to him fatiguing. 
He acted on the principle, and inculcated the same 
upon his students, that the best sort of relaxation was 
a change from one work to another. When an anx- 
ious friend advised him to preach less frequently, and 
to labor less assiduously, he replied, "Be in no pain 
about me. I hope that we have the presence of God 
among us, and that he is bearing testimony to the 
word of his grace. I take all the care of my health 
which is consistent with doing the proper duties of 
life; and when I find myself refreshed rather than 
fatigued with these attempts of service, I cannot think 
myself fairly discharged from continuing them." To 
another friend he offered a similar justification of his 
laborious manner of living : "lam indeed subject to 
a little cough, but I never preached with more free- 
dom or pleasure. I am generally employed, with very 
short intervals, from morning to night, and have sel- 
dom more than six hours in bed ; yet such is the good- 
ness of God to me, that I seldom know what it is to 
be weary. I hope my labors are not in vain. This 
animates me in my labors." 



. HIS PROMINENT TRAITS. 391 

II. Dr. Doddridge was distinguished by a spirit 

OF CANDOR AND KINDNESS TOWARDS THOSE WHO DIF- 
FERED FROM HIM IN SENTIMENT, OR IN ECCLESIASTICAL 
CONNECTION. 

His mind, at an early period of his theological 
studies, was earnestly engaged in the examination of 
the controversy between the established church and 
the dissenters, that he might form an intelligent and 
settled opinion. He was not one of those who claim 
exclusively for themselves and their denomination, 
all the truth and all the excellence that is to be found, 
and deny these to others, though he preferred and con- 
scientiously supported the principles and institutions 
of the churches with which he stood connected. 

His candor and liberality towards his Protestant 
brethren did not blind him to the errors of popery, 
nor prevent his entertaining an abhorrence of its per- 
secuting spirit. This may be seen in his " Family 
Expositor;" and is earnestly set forth in a sermon 
which he published, and which has been much admir- 
ed, on " The Absurdity and Iniquity of Persecution 
for Conscience 7 Sake, in all its Kinds and Degrees." 
In one of his sermons against popery he thus eloquent- 
ly shows the reasonableness and duty of the separa- 
tion from the church of Rome : 

" My brethren, pardon the freedom of my speech. 
I should have thought it my duty to separate from the 
church of Rome, had she pretended only to determine 
those things which Christ has left indifferent; how 
much more, when she requires a compliance with those 
which he hath expressly forbid. When she hath the 
insolence to say, You shall not only confine yourself 



392 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

to a prescribed form of words, but you shall worship 
in an unknown tongue ; you shall not only bow at the 
venerable name of our common Lord, but you shall 
worship an image; you shall not only kneel at the 
communion, but kneel in adoration of a piece of 
bread ; you shall not only pronounce, or at least ap- 
pear to pronounce those accursed who do not believe 
what is acknowledged to be incomprehensible, but 
those who do not believe what is most contrary to 
our reason and senses: when these are the terms of 
our continued communion — when they require us to 
purchase our peace by violating our consciences and 
endangering our souls, it is no wonder that we escape 
as for our lives, retiring not from an inconvenient 
lodging where we are straitened for want of room, 
but from a ruinous house where we are in danger of 
being crushed to pieces; or rather, we retire with 
indignation and horror, as from a den of thieves, 
where we must be either the associates, or the sacri- 
fices of their wickedness. And to all their terrors 
and threatenings we oppose the awful voice of God : 
1 Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers 
of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues ; for 
her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath 
remembered her iniquities.' Eev. 18:4, 5." 

III. The good influence of Dr. Doddridge was 

WIDELY EXERTED BEYOND THE LIMITS OF HIS OWN CON- 
GREGATION AND PLACE OF RESIDENCE. 

His influence over his students, and over his con- 
gregation, has been illustrated at sufficient length. He 
labored besides to promote the usefulness of others, 



HIS PROMINENT TRAITS. 393 

and to extend in every practicable way the kingdom 
of the Redeemer. He was intent upon employing 
every opportunity, by conversation, by his letters, and 
by preaching, to promote the conversion of sinners, 
and to excite his brethren to benevolent action. His 
correspondence shows the deep interest he often took 
in the spiritual welfare of condemned malefactors in 
the prison at Northampton. He lost no opportunity, 
when attending the meetings of ministers, to endeavor 
to infuse into their hearts greater zeal in prosecuting 
the noble work to which they should be devoted. At 
such meetings, which he generally attended notwith- 
standing his multiplied engagements, he did not de- 
cline a participation in the appointed services, but 
cheerfully contributed his aid to make them attractive 
and eminently profitable. 

His heart was much interested in the effort to en- 
gage the churches in the work of the foreign propa- 
gation of the gospel, and also in enlightening the 
darker portions of Britain. He largely contributed 
to the publication of religious books in the Welsh 
language, and to the operations and success of a soci- 
ety in Scotland for extending religion in North Amer- 
ica. Of this society he was a corresponding member. 
Notice has been already taken of some efforts made 
by him to forward measures for evangelizing the In- 
dians of this country. 

It seems that Dr. Doddridge may fairly be said to 
be virtually the founder of Bible societies, and thus 
the fountain of one of the most valuable streams of 
Christian beneficence. His correspondence contains 
a letter addressed to him by Mr. Benjamin Fawcett of 

IT* 



394 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

London, one of the founders of the Society for Promot- 
ing Religious Knowledge among the Poor, by distrib- 
uting Bibles, Testaments, and various other religious 
books, in fact the British Bible Society in its infancy. 
In 1751, the year after that society was founded, he 
wrote to Dr. Doddridge, "I do not know, dear sir, 
whether justice does not oblige me to inform you that 
if the world receives any advantage from this design, 
I think, under God, it is indebted to Dr. Doddridge 
for it, as the sacred fervor which animated your ad- 
dresses from the pulpit, when last in town, kindled a 
spark of the same benevolence to the souls of men, 
and in the breast of one who could no longer retain 
his desires of usefulness within the compass of his own 
small abilities, without exciting others to the same 
views." 

It was the special design of this society to send 
books to such ministers and gentlemen in the country 
as were disposed faithfully to distribute them among 
the destitute, and to make a report of such distribu- 
tion. The society was supported by quarterly sub- 
scriptions from the members, and other well-disposed 
Christians. 

Dr. Doddridge deserves the credit also of having 
originated, in 1741, the first Congregational Missionary 
Association in Great Britain. We have already re- 
ferred to his sermon before the Norfolk and Suffolk 
ministers on "The Evil and Dangers of neglecting the 
Souls of Men." 

One who was present at the delivery of the dis- 
course, observes, "It was a remarkable day indeed, 
when the presence of God filled our assembly; and 



HIS PROMINENT TRAITS. 395 

not myself only, but many others have with pleasure 
owned it was one of the best days of our lives. Though 
the season was hot, the auditory very much crowded, 
and between four and five hours spent in the public 
worship, none thought the hours tedious, or wished 
for a dismission. " 

Having a large Christian heart, he was disposed 
to look with a benignant eye upon all who seemed to 
be engaged in promoting the Redeemer's kingdom, 
even though in some points of doctrine, in some modes 
of useful endeavor, and in some peculiarities of church 
polity, they might not be such as he preferred. Hence 
he not only, in one of his visits to London, prayed in 
the Tabernacle pulpit for Whitefield's success, but 
when that extraordinary man visited the neighbor- 
hood of Northampton to see his old friend the Rev. 
James Hervey, Doddridge associated with him at the 
table of his friends, and invited him into his pulpit. 
Nor did he hesitate, when he met with attacks on his 
character, to defend both his doctrines and his mo- 
tives. 

We may now turn to some portions of the corre- 
spondence which illustrate the interest he felt in the 
benevolent and Christian enterprises of the celebrated 
Lady Huntington, one of the chief supporters in 
England of the remarkable man just referred to. 

Lady Huntington was born in 1707, and died in 
1791. She was remarkable for her ardent piety, her 
self-sacrificing benevolence, and her conspicuous en- 
terprises for spreading experimental religion, by erect- 
ing chapels and sustaining chaplains, and promoting 
missions of an evangelical character. As the hour of 



396 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

death arrived, she exclaimed, " My work is done, and 
I have nothing to do but to go to my Father." She 
compared her decease, when at hand, to the putting 
off of her cloak ; and when she had the rupture of a 
bloodvessel, which indicated a mortal sickness, and 
was asked about her condition, she replied, "I am 
well — all is well, well for ever; I see, wherever I 
turn my eyes, whether I live or die, nothing but vic- 
tory." A day before she took her departure to the 
unseen world, she remarked, "My soul is filled with 
glory ; I am in the element of heaven." Her grand 
maxim of life was, " Do that which is best, and leave 
the event to God." 

From the Countess of Huntington. 

"June, 1746. 
"So surrounded am I by eyes that long to find fault 
with all that I do, that it makes me cautious to give 
no offence, either to Jew, Gentile, or the church of 
God, but to serve all men to their good and edification, 
and to labor with the remains of life to advance our 
Lord and Saviour's kingdom upon earth. Do, my 
friend, try to look out for me for this purpose; and if 
you know, or can hear of any man so qualified, let me 
know from you. Could I explain the consequences 
of this matter with sufficient strength, I am sure it 
would move so warm and earnest a heart as yours to 
the most active trial. May heaven assist you." 

From the same. 

"February 23, 1747. 

"I hope you will comfort me by all the accounts 
you can gather of the flourishing and spreading of the 
glad tidings. Oh, how do I lament the weakness of 



HIS PROMINENT TRAITS. 39T 

my hands, the feebleness of my knees, and coldness of 
my heart ; I want it on fire always, not for self-delight, 
but to spread the gospel from pole to pole. Pray for 
me, my very excellent friend, and cause others to da 
so. I dread slack hands in the vineyard ; we must be 
all up and doing : the Lord is at hand, and let us not 
lose the things we have wrought, but labor and ex- 
hort each other to diligence and faithfulness. Oh, my 
friend, we shall reap plentifully, if we faint not. Think- 
ing of your unwearied labors inspires even so dead a 
heart as mine at this moment with great earnestness ; 
I want words to tell you what shall be your reward. 
All I can say is, it is not less than infinite bounty 
which is to reward you. 

" Mr. Baddelly has just concluded a most faithful 
sermon to a good many hungry souls: gospel, every 
word of it ; and I do trust the words were clothed 
with power, and have reached the hearts of some, so 
as to convert them, as well as to comfort others." 

From the same. 

"March 15, 1747. 
"I have so sincere a regard for you, that I own it 
would flatter me to have you think it long since you 
heard from me. Company, some business, and my weak 
body, make my writing often to be attended with dif- 
ficulty. I wished much to have been earlier in my 
acknowledgment of your last than usual, as it gave 
not only all that spirit of Christian friendship that I 
am now honored by from you, but the consolation of 
assuring me you have hopes of finding out a youth 
who may be thought worthy, from pious disposition 
and education, for the ministry. What contribution 



398 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

will be wanting from me towards this purpose, I beg 
you will let me know, and my excellent friend may 
depend upon my utmost gratitude for this high honor 
conferred upon me. I feel my mite is cast into the 
treasury of God, and Oh, inexpressible consolation, 
that he in his love is sending these calls to poor, vile, 
unworthy me. My heart wants nothing so much as 
to dispense all, all for the glory of Him whom my soul 
loveth. 

" Many prophets and religious men have desired 
to see these days, and have not seen them. Great, 
great is the power of the Lord, and for ever glorified 
be his name. Some important time is coming. Oh, 
might I hope it is that time when all things shall be 
swallowed up by the enlightening and comforting dis- 
plays of our glorious Redeemer's kingdom ; when love 
shall be the burning language of the heart, and every 
soul be longing for the moment of his appearing. My 
hopes are not only full of immortality, but of this. 
Your works are blessed, and God is making you a 
polished shaft in his quiver. I want every body to 
pray with you, and for you, that you may wax stron- 
ger and stronger. I have had a letter from Lord Bol- 
ingbroke, who says, 'I desire my compliments and 
thanks to Dr. Doddridge, and I hope I shall continue 
to deserve his good opinion/ 

"I have this day received a fresh mark of your 
unwearied pains and thoughts about me. I often 
look to that grave which promises me a refuge from 
an evil world, and a yet more evil heart; but how 
does it bound, as the roe or hind over the mountains, 
when that all-transporting view presents itself — pre- 



HIS PROMINENT TRAITS. 399 

sents an eternity of joy to follow this glad release 
from time. Death is called a monster, a king of ter- 
rors, but as Gabriel's salutation shall my soul meet 
him ; he can bring no other message to the redeemed 
in Christ but, ' Hail, thou that art highly favored of the 
Lord. ; Oh, glorious Emmanuel, how, how do I long 
for that immortal voice to praise thee with ; and till 
then, that mortal one which may sound through earth 
thy love to man. 

u My kindest service to Mrs. Doddridge and your 
daughters. Thank them a thousand times for their 
thoughts about me ; and live assured of my most un- 
feigned esteem and highest regard." 

From the same. 

"Bath, Nov. 8, 1747. 

"I hope you will never care for the ceremony of 
time in your letters to me; they will always oblige 
me, but most when attended with the greatest ease to 
yourself; as we both agree in this sentiment, that the 
one thing worth living for must be the proclaiming 
the love of God to man in Christ Jesus. So all calls 
for that end will secure my approbation for your 
silence. 

"I am nothing; Christ is all: I both disclaim, as 
well as disdain, any righteousness but his. I not only 
rejoice that there is no wisdom for his people but 
that from above, but reject every pretension to any but 
what comes from himself. I want no holiness he does 
not give me, and I could not accept a heaven he does 
not prepare me for. I can wish for no liberty but 
what he likes for me, and I am satisfied with every 
misery he does not redeem me from ; that in all things 



400 i PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

1 may feel that without him I can do nothing. To sit 
at his feet and hearken to his sayings, is an honor 
worthy of Gabriel, who is always in the presence of 
God. To behold the glory of such a Saviour, even 
the seraphs might veil their faces. Such love and 
honor, I say, as this, ought to make us breathe his 
praises from pole to pole. 

" Many are our enemies ; and of these, not only 
our own sins, but the spirit of the world in which 
dwells nothing but wretchedness; but while it is 
through his love that we are to conquer, let the pa- 
tience of his saints be seen in us ; let our prayers and 
labors be useful in obtaining crowns of pure gold to 
be placed on the heads of our most cruel foes ; that 
the finite evil of the worst may serve only to raise 
our hearts to heaven for their infinite good. Did we 
enough take root downwards, we should bear more of 
this fruit upwards. Humility must make us ascend 
by the fiery chariot. That divine object whom my 
soul most delights in, shows me my lesson in these 
few words : 'Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly.'" 

From the same. 

"London, Jan. 3, 1748. 

" Religion was, I believe, never so much the sub- 
ject of conversation as now. Some of the great of 
this world hear with me the gospel patiently; and 
thus much seed is sown by Mr. Whitefield's preach- 
ing, and, I need not tell you, some of the best. Oh 
that it may fall in good ground, and bring forth fruit 
abundantly. 

"Do not let your hands hang down; we must 



HIS PROMINENT TRAITS. 401 

wrestle for ourselves, and for all dead in their sins, 
till the day break and the shadows of time flee away. >J 

From the same. 

:i 1750. 

"I could not let the bearer of this go through 
Northampton without calling and returning my most 
grateful acknowledgments for your kind and obliging 
letter. May the God of grace repay all those senti- 
ments of regard for me ; I know I never can. Esteem 
you very highly. I think I must do while I live; and 
among those many unworthy offerings to heaven, Oh 
that the divine goodness may accept but one petition 
that may reach you. and then how greatly will he hon- 
or me. I must just tell you that I have had two large 
assemblies at my house, of the mighty, the wise, and 
the rich, to hear the gospel by Mr. Whitefield ; and 
I have great pleasure in telling you they all expressed 
a great deal in hearing him. Sometimes I do hope 
for dear Lord Chesterfield and Lord Bath, Mr. Stan- 
hope, and one of the privy council of Denmark, with a 
great many ladies and people of fashion, as well as oi 
quality. I know your warm heart will rejoice at this> 
and your prayers will help with ours for an increase 
to our blessed Lord's kingdom, even among these. 
The person that brings this, I think you will like to 
t*lk with ; he has charge of some poor schools of mine 
in the country, and is a most worthy, pious, and sen- 
sible man." 

Dr. Doddridge records his pleasure in making Lady 
Huntington's acquaintance, in securing her friendship, 
and enjoying an occasional interview. On one occa- 
sion he speaks of having sent a person to her relief 



402 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

under an apprehended dangerous illness, and adds, 
" To have done any thing towards the preserving of 
that angelic life would be one of the greatest felicities 
that could attend mine." At the close of the year 
1750, he enumerates among its mercies the preserva- 
tion of her growing friendship. 

To the Rev. Benjamin Fawcett 

" Northampton, June 26, 1750. 

" I am this day forty-eight years old ; but Oh, how 
unworthy and unprofitable a creature ! 

" I thank you for yours, and bless God for its con- 
tents. Still may you go on in his name and strength, 
conquering, and to conquer. I approve your scheme 
as to Brainerd's Life and Journal, and think Mr. Ash- 
worth the proper person to execute it. I rejoice to 
hear you have your praying society for the purpose 
mentioned. Surely, if we can believe, we shall see 
the salvation of God. 

" I am sorry for any abatement in your well-earn- 
ed possessions ; but when all we have is devoted to 
the Lord, we bear losses as stewards rather than as 
proprietors. I bless God this earth is less and less 
to me, and I could willingly have done with it, should 
it please my Master to give me leave. Yet for him 
I would live and labor, and I hope, if such were his 
will, suffer too. • 

" Lady Huntington, for whom I desire your pray- 
ers, is wonderfully recovered. She walked with me 
in the garden and park, and almost wearied me, such 
is her increase of strength ; but the strength of her 
soul is amazing. I think I never saw so much of the 
image of God in any woman upon earth. Were I to 



HIS PROMINENT TRAITS. 403 

write what I know of her, it would fill your heart 
with wonder, joy, and praise. She desired me to edu- 
cate a lad for the dissenting ministry at her expense, 
till he be fit to come into my academy on an exhibi- 
tion ; and this is but one of a multitude of good works 
she is continually performing. I must tell you, how- 
ever, one observation of hers which struck me much : 
1 None/ said she, ' know how to prize Christ, but those 
who are zealous in good works. Men know not till 
they try, what poor imperfect things our best works 
are, and how deficient we are in them ; and the expe- 
rience of that Sweetness which attends their perform- 
ance, makes us more sensible of those obligations to 
Him whose grace is the principle of them in our hearts. 
She has God dwelling in her, and she is ever bearing 
her testimony to the present salvation he has given 
us, and to the fountain of living waters which she 
feels springing up in her soul ; so that she knows the 
divine original of the promises before the performance 
of them to her, as she knows God to be her Creator 
by the life he has given her." 

Many interesting statements might here be added 
of the active efforts of Dr. Doddridge in behalf of the 
Moravian brethren, who were zealously spreading the 
gospel in various parts of Europe, and whose evangeli- 
cal labors were presented to him and the English 
churches by Count Zinzendorf ; and of his efficient 
plans and exertions in aid of the Protestants of 
Prance. 

IV. Dr. Doddridge was distinguished by great 

BENEVOLENCE, COURTEOUSNESS, AND PUBLIC SPIRIT. 



404 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

He was a man of gentlemanly disposition and man- 
ners. He practised with great ease and felicity those 
forms of politeness which were customary among well- 
educated people. His deep learning, his fondness for 
books, and his engrossing professional pursuits, did 
not unfit or indispose him for an affable deportment 
towards any who interrupted him, even the poor and 
illiterate that came to him for advice and instruction 
about their religious interests or afflictions. Not only 
in manners, but in speech, his benevolence was uni- 
formly and beautifully manifested. In his ' tongue 
was the law of kindness.' 

His benevolence, as we have seen, was most con- 
stantly and industriously exhibited in rendering every 
service in his power to the souls of his fellow-men; 
but it led him in like manner to direct his attention 
to their bodily wants, and to expend his liberality in 
furnishing needful supplies. Indeed, in his generous 
zeal to promote the temporal welfare of the destitute, 
he was perhaps too neglectful, at times, of the claims 
of his own family. He acted on his great Master's 
principle : " It is more blessed to give than to receive." 
He inquired after the poor ; he preached sermons with 
a view to secure contributions for their relief; he 
wrote letters, and held conversation with the benevo- 
lent, to the same end. And what he thus urged oth- 
ers to do, he exhibited in his own self-denying exam- 
ple. He urged them to set apart a liberal portion of 
their income to beneficent purposes, and to regard it 
as devoted, and no longer their own; he exhorted 
to the practice of economy and self-denial in expendi- 
tures upon themselves, that they might enlarge the 



HIS PROMINENT TRAITS. 405 

charitable fund at their command. And what he 
preached and wrote on this subject, he faithfully prac- 
tised in his own case. On one occasion he wrote : 

" I have this day, in sweet devotion, made a vow 
that I would consecrate the tenth part of my estate 
and income to charitable uses, and an eighth part of 
all that shall this year come in from my books to 
occasional contributions, unless any circumstances 
arise which lead me to believe that it will be injuri- 
ous to others to do it." 

The following year, in his general resolutions, he 
writes, "Having fully discharged the charitable ac- 
count last year, I renew the like resolution for this; 
and desire to observe how God prospers me, that I 
may give in proportion to it. 77 We are told that his 
accounts showed how punctually he fulfilled this en- 
gagement, and that he often exceeded it ; so that con- 
sidering the wants of his family, and the precarious- 
ness of a large portion of his income, his liberality 
was most remarkable. And yet he indulges in lamen- 
tations, that, although he never in youth spent money 
for unnecessary articles, he might yet perhaps have 
been somewhat more frugal than he had been, and 
thus have saved something more for benevolent uses. 

Besides contributing money to the poor, he expend- 
ed much in the hospitalities of his own house, upon 
his brethren and friends, and especially his former 
students, who were always welcome. In his last will, 
having bequeathed a considerable legacy to poor 
Christians belonging to his congregation, he adds, 
" I have thought it my duty to lay up but very little 
for my own children, while I have seen so many of 



406 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

the children of God, and some of them most excellent 
persons, in necessity. 77 He remembered his family 
servants also, besides several of his clerical and other 
friends, in the gifts assigned to them. Thus, not only 
while living, but after death, the effects of his benevo- 
lence were largely distributed. 

Confiding in his integrity and prudence, and aware 
of his benevolent temper, persons of wealth often en- 
trusted to him sums of money to be distributed accord- 
ing to his discretion, among objects that seemed to 
him deserving of aid. He was among the most active 
in establishing a county hospital at Northampton, 
contributing not money only, but time, and public 
discourses in the advocacy of its claims to public 
patronage. He took especial pleasure in carrying 
out one peculiarity in the management of the hospital, 
a most earnest attention to the spiritual wants of those 
who were its inmates. 

Here may be advantageously introduced an inci- 
dent which illustrates his character. A public dinner, 
under the patronage of the Earl of Halifax, was given 
for the purpose of drawing together, at the outset, the 
friends of the institution. In the progress of the fes- 
tivities of the evening, an unbecoming toast was pro- 
posed and drank by some persons who afterwards 
regretted the act. But Dr. Doddridge immediately 
arose, and handing to a writer a guinea to defray his 
share in the extra expenses of the occasion, left the 
room. Lord Halifax, observing the transaction, with 
equal delicacy and good sense, remarked, " There 
goes a gentleman and a Christian. 77 

As another illustration of his public spirit, may be 



HIS PROMINENT TRAITS. 407 

mentioned his supporting the administration of his 
country and his king during the rebellion of 1745. 
He was a loyal and patriotic subject, and at that 
period exerted no small influence among the great 
and the people generally in opposing the rebellion. 
To this end he corresponded and conferred with the 
Earl of Halifax, with whose excellence of character 
he was greatly charmed. 

Besides the county hospital, a charity school, as 
we . have already noticed, was established at North- 
ampton through the agency of Dr. Doddridge, who 
also contributed regularly to its support, and super- 
intended and assisted the instruction of the students. 
In his own academy also he educated without charge 
a number of young men for the Christian ministry, 
and had the happiness to see them enter on their work 
with proper qualifications, and pursue it with great 
credit to themselves, and ardent gratitude to him for 
his liberal care and pious culture. 

The benevolence of his heart appeared perhaps in 
no direction to better advantage, than in the tender 
sympathy and condolence with which he met his 
friends, or strangers, in seasons of adversity and sor- 
row. Many of his letters might here be introduced, 
in illustration of this particular trait of his amiable 
character. 

V. The exemplary conduct of Dr. Doddridge 

UNDER ILL TREATMENT, IS DESERVING OF REMARK, AND 
OF ADMIRATION. 

His benevolence did not desert him amid the mani- 
fold trials which he experienced at the hands of un- 



408 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

just men. It is strange that a man of such amiable 
character, inoffensive habits, and gentlemanly bear- 
ing, should have been assailed and injured ; but so it 
happened. Prom the deriders of Christianity he re- 
ceived injurious treatment, in consequence of the bold- 
ness and ability that characterized his published vin- 
dications of it. The strongest acrimony of feeling 
and of censure was directed against him by some even 
of his ministerial brethren, partly, it is thought, 
through envy of the reputation which his uncommon 
diligence and activity procured for him, and which 
they were unwilling to be at the pains of imitating; 
and especially because he declined being a party man. 
The moderation which he possessed in an eminent de- 
gree, was regarded as a great fault, and his unwilling- 
ness to adopt and defend all the notions of any par- 
ticular party, exposed him naturally to the censure of 
opposing parties. As Pope expressed the fact, " He 
found by dear experience that he lived in an age in 
which it was criminal to be moderate. Some consid- 
ered him too strict in his opinions ; others censured 
him as too loose." 

It was the aim of this candid and good man to 
exhibit the character which his friend Dr. Isaac Watts 
had drawn in the following terms : " When any sect 
of Christians seems to be carried away with the furi- 
ous torrent of some prevailing notions or some un- 
necessary practices, some special superstition or a con- 
tentious spirit, the moderate man tries to show how 
much of truth and goodness may be found among each 
party, where all agree to hold Christ Jesus the head ; 
though he dares not renounce a grain of truth or 



HIS PROMINENT TRAITS. 409 

necessary duty for the sake of peace, and he would 
1 contend earnestly 7 where Providence calls him, for 
the essential articles of 'faith 7 which were 'once deliv- 
ered to the saints. 7 For his great regard to the pecul- 
iar doctrines of the gospel in his preaching and writ- 
ings, he suffered censure ; and we are told that neither 
his moderation, and other personal virtues, nor his 
zeal for the service of the common cause of Christians, 
Protestant or dissenters, could shelter him from the 
contempt and reproaches of some angry people, who, 
amid all their professions of the most unbounded 
charity, thought his an excepted case, or chose rather 
to be injurious to him than consistent with them- 
selves. 77 Mr. Orton informs us that many instances 
might be mentioned in which he was treated in this 
manner. 

A friend having told him that he had been charged 
with insincerity, especially in using some particular 
phrases, in his writings, in a sense different from that 
in which -he himself understood them, in order to 
please a party, he nobly defended himself against the 
imputation, in the following language : 

" My conscience doth not tell me that I am at all 
to blame on the head you mention. I write for the 
public, as I would also do in every private correspon- 
dence, as in the presence of God, and in the view of 
his judgment. I would not purchase that phantom 
popularity, which is often owing to the very worst 
part of a man 7 s character or performances, by any 
compliances beneath the dignity of a Christian minis- 
ter, an office of which I think so highly, as to be deep- 
ly sensible how unworthy I am to bear it. On the 

Doddridge. 18 



410 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

other hand, I do indeed desire to give as little offence 
as I honestly can, and I have high authorities for it." 
To another friend he writes, "The reflections 
which have been thrown upon me as a double-dealer 
and an inconsistent man, have often put me upon sub- 
mitting myself to the scrutiny of the all-searching eye ; 
and in my most serious moments I have, I thank God, 
a constant sense of the uprightness of my heart before 
him. Keligion is with me an inward thing. My 
views of the same person, and of the same things, may 
have altered ; but upon the whole, I have given but 
very little cause for the reflections which have been 
cast upon me, nor have I ever, in any instance that I 
know of, acted a part which my conscience hath con- 
demned as insincere ; but I may, through an excessive 
tenderness of displeasing, have left men of different 
opinions more room to think me of their sentiments 
by my not opposing them, than I ought to have done. 
I may, likewise, in many instances, have seen things 
not to be inconsistent, which warm men on one side of 
the question, and on the other, have thought to be so ; 
and it is possible, too, that in some of those cases, they 
may have thought aright, though I believe in more 
they have been on both sides wrong. I may have had 
more real esteem and love for persons in very differ- 
ent views and interests than they, knowing the nar- 
rowness of their own hearts in these instances, could 
easily imagine to be sincere. Besides all which, a 
disposition to use some forms of complimental expres- 
sion, especially in early life, and to tell persons the 
good things I thought of them and their performances, 
may have exposed me to censure; though I may 



HIS PROMINENT TRAITS. 411 

truly say I have always inwardly thought what I said, 
for my mind has never been in such a state, but that 
I must have felt a sensible and memorable horror for 
doing otherwise. These things may have given ad- 
vantages against me ; and they may perhaps be per- 
mitted, that I may not be too much exalted by the 
unreasonable and extravagant applauses I have some- 
times met with. I have a persuasion in my heart that 
if God continue my life for a few years, many of these 
things will die. I shall be made more cautious by 
them, and more humbly seek that wisdom from God 
which is necessary to cut off occasion from some who 
seek it. I shall also, while they continue, have oppor- 
tunities of exercising several graces of the Christian 
temper, which, though concealed from human eyes, 
have their value in the sight of God. And I may be 
made more desirous of leaving a world where I meet 
with unkindness, for that where love will be perfect- 
ed." 

Much more does he write in the same Christian 
spirit. 

To the Rev. Benjamin Fawcett. 

" Northampton, Dec. 30, 1742. 
" We must become as little children ; willing to 
be taken up and laid down, carried out, and brought 
in, fed and corrected, as our heavenly Father pleases ; 
and the less we have of our own, for any thing but to 
please him, the more comfort shall we find in ourselves, 
under whatever circumstances he is pleased to allot to 
us. Self-denial and mortification, in giving up our 
own schemes, and in being sometimes censured and 
condemned even for things in themselves right, and 



412 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

in the circumstances in which they were done most 
requisite, is a very wholesome kind of discipline ; and 
though it be somewhat distasteful, the soul often 
thrives by it; as I trust I have in many instances 
found. 

"Some disaffected persons have raised such a 
clamor and odium against me, that I am almost ready 
to think there are in England congregations that 
would rather have a very indifferent minister from 
other hands than a very good one from mine. But I 
fear there are others that are ready to go almost as 
far in the other extreme. The truth of the matter is, 
I am a poor, weak, sinful creature, but one who sin- 
cerely believes the gospel, and who desires to spread 
the savor of it, were it possible, all over the world, 
and to enthrone its power in every bosom, that all 
hearts might grow humble, benevolent, and upright; 
and who heartily wishes that every thing opposite to 
its spirit may fall, not by violence, nor human power, 
but by the gentle ministration of the divine influence. 

" Nor am I concerned any further than the honor 
of my Master is interested, whether I go through evil 
or good report. If any think me a deceiver, my God 
knows that I am true; and if any wish that I were 
unknown, I bless him I have reason to believe that I 
am well known to not a few, by tokens which will 
never be forgotten." 

We learn also that Dr. Doddridge received very 
unjust and unkind treatment from a few unworthy 
students, some of whom, for vicious conduct, he had 
been obliged to expel ; and others of whom, who had 
received license to preach, he could not conscientious- 



HIS PROMINENT TRAITS. 413 

ly recommend to the places they sought, as either not 
having given sufficient evidence of piety, or as having 
embraced tenets which rendered them unacceptable to 
most dissenting churches. By such persons, in the 
spirit of revenge, his character and motives were 
greatly misrepresented. " But," he remarks, " this is 
my comfort, that the most of those who have been my 
pupils, are my cordial and affectionate friends; and 
I find the tenderest and most grateful friendship 
from those now under my care. The longer I live 
the less I am inclined to enter into debates which I 
haw neither time nor heart for; and perhaps have 
been too indolent in tracing out injurious reports, and 
too dilatory in making remonstrances for ill usage. 
I have generally chosen the shorter way, heartily to 
forgive and pray for those from whom I have received 
the most injurious treatment, and to endeavor to live 
in such -a manner, that they who intimately know me 
may not lightly believe rumors to my disadvantage." 
Mr. Orton says that several of the students who 
had thus caused pain to their amiable and devoted 
instructor, deeply repented of it afterwards: one of 
them particularly, a little before his death, wrote his 
tutor a most pathetic and friendly letter, in which he 
largely confessed his own guilt; laid open to him 
many of the sly acts which had been used to. hurt his 
character ; and with all the marks of humility, peni- 
tence, and affection, earnestly desired his forgiveness 
and his prayers. Dr. Doddridge nobly practised the 
advice which he gives in his " Rise and Progress," to 
those who are suffering unjustly. He did not permit 
himself to be interrupted in his generous worthy course 



414 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

by the little attacks which he met with. He was still 
attentive to the general good, and steadily resolute in 
his endeavors to promote it ; and he left it to Provi- 
dence to guard or to rescue his character from assaults 
which — be had observed and experienced — will often, 
without a person's labor, confute themselves, and heap 
upon the authors greater shame, or, if they are inac- 
cessible to that, greater infamy than his humanity 
would allow him to wish them. 

VI. Dr. Doddridge, notwithstanding his learn- 
ing, GIFTS, POPULARITY, AND SUCCESS, WAS A MAN OF 
REMARKABLE HUMILITY, AND DEEPLY FELT HIS DEPEND- 
ENCE ON THE GRACE OF GOD. 

He was by no means indifferent to the esteem of 
his fellow-men, but greatly valued it, chiefly because 
it was necessary as a means of his highest usefulness 
to them. He sought their favorable regard, however, 
not by disparaging the reputation of others, nor by 
mean compliances and unworthy acts, but by the affa- 
bility of his manners, the solid worth of his perform- 
ances, and his earnest endeavors to promote their high- 
est welfare. Mr. Orton, who had access to all his 
private papers, and the best opportunities to learn his 
true character, affirms, " I am fully persuaded that the 
grand and growing principles on which he acted were 
those of the noblest kind ; and that no desire of popu- 
larity or applause could influence him in any case in 
which he thought the interests of truth or religion con- 
cerned. These he always held sacred ; and compared 
with these, he considered even reputation and esteem 
as of no account. Prom his private papers it is evident 



HIS PROMINENT TRAITS. 415 

that the esteem of the world, instead of elating his 
mind, produced deeper humiliation before God, and 
higher admiration of divine favor and grace manifest- 
ed to him." 

Dr. Doddridge entertained a deep consciousness of 
his entire dependence on Divine aid to enable him to 
perform his manifold duties in an appropriate and 
efficient manner. To God alone, in connection with 
his own untiring industry, and severe application of 
mind and body, he looked for success ; and to God he 
made his daily offering of grateful praise for any 
measure of success attained. His position being one 
of no ordinary difficulty, he thus expresses the sense 
which he cherished of his own incompetency : 

" I hope I can truly say that God is exciting in my 
heart some growing zeal for his service, both as a 
minister and a tutor ; but really a sense of the vast 
weight of these offices, when united, is sometimes more 
than I know how to bear. It is of such infinite im- 
portance that young ministers come out in the spirit 
of the gospel, which is humility, simplicity, love, zeal, 
devotion, and diligence, in a degree far beyond what 
is commonly seen ; and it is so difficult to bring them 
to it, and keep them in it, through the pride and folly 
of the human heart, that sometimes I am almost ready 
to sink under the discouraging scene. I hope God 
will keep me under a constant sense of my own im- 
perfections ; and if he calls me out to any particular 
services, show his strength in my weakness, and his 
grace in my unworthiness. I know that, with regard 
to academical and ministerial labors, all depends on 
the increase which God is pleased to give. He has 



416 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

taught me this by briars and thorns, though I thought 
I was sensible of it before. He has showed me, by 
some painful instances, how precarious the most prom- 
ising hopes are; that I may trust, not in myself, nor 
in man, but in his grace in Christ Jesus, on which I 
desire to live more and more myself, and to which I 
would daily recommend my pupils, my children, and 
all my friends." 

Cherishing thus a humble opinion of himself, he 
was ready to put a favorable estimate on the abilities 
and virtues of others, and to rejoice in their success. 
His letters and private diary bear full testimony on 
this point ; but nowhere was his humble spirit so re- 
markably shown as in his intercourse with his stu- 
dents. He never refused to listen with patient atten- 
tion to any objections which they desired to make to 
the sentiments expressed in his lectures; he was en- 
tirely free from that overbearing and dogmatical spirit 
which too often characterizes even able instructors. 
He often referred to his own juvenile indiscretions as 
a writer, and as a man, that he might put them on 
their guard ; he desired his friends, the elders of the 
church, and even his students, frankly to admonish 
him of any thing in his words or conduct which they 
might judge to be wrong ; fearing lest, amid the multi- 
plicity of his engagements, he might neglect some im- 
portant business, commit some error, or indulge in 
some irregularity in manner or spirit. Information 
on such points as these he received with kindness and 
gratitude, for he honestly and earnestly desired to be 
aided in doing his whole duty to God and to man. 

How beautiful does such humility appear in this 



HIS PROMINENT TRAITS. 411 

reply to a friend who had the faithfulness to apprize 
him of some error he had committed : "You need not 
give yourself the trouble of gilding a reproof or cau- 
tion, but may advance it in the plainest terms, and 
with the utmost freedom ; for indeed, I know that I 
have many faults, and I think it one of the greatest 
felicities of life to be put into a way of correcting any 
of them ; and when a friend attempts this, I place it 
to the account of the greatest obligations, even though 
on the strictest examination I should apprehend that 
some mistaken view of things had been the immediate 
occasion of such a generous and self-denying office of 
friendship." 

VII. Under affliction, his patience, fortitude, 

AND CHEERFULNESS GREATLY ADORNED HIS CHARACTER ; 
WHILE THE ELEVATED PRINCIPLES IN WHICH THESE ORIG- 
INATED ADDED MUCH TO ITS BEAUTY. 

It was his lot often to encounter in his own person 
severe forms of illness, which brought him apparently 
near to the grave. We may learn a useful lesson by 
acquainting ourselves with the exercises of his mind 
under these painful visitations of the providence of 
God. As soon as he was able to write, after a severe 
illness which he endured with most patient fortitude, 
he gives to Mr. Orton the following account of his 
sickness : 

" It is impossible to express the support and com- 
fort which God gave me on my sick-bed. His prom- 
ises were my continual feast. They seemed to be all 
united in one stream of glory, and poured into my 
breast. When I thought of dying, it sometimes made 

18* 



418 PHILIP DODDRIDGE, 

my very heart leap within me to think that I was 
going home to my Father and my Saviour, ' to an innu- 
merable company of angels, and the spirits of the just 
made perfect.' Animal nature was more than once 
in great commotion; my imagination, just in the 
height of the fever, hurried in the strangest manner I 
ever knew. Yet even then Satan was not permitted 
to suggest one single fear with regard to my eternal 
state. I can never be sufficiently thankful for this. 
Assist me in praising God on this account. Oh may 
I come out of the furnace like gold !" 

After a subsequent illness, he thus writes : " I did 
not experience so much of the presence of God in this 
illness as I did in the former ; but I bless God I have 
not been left either to dejection or impatience. 77 In 
recovering from another attack, he writes: "I have 
been confined of late by a threatening disorder ; but, 
I thank God, through the prayers of my friends, and 
a blessing on the use of means, I am now well. As- 
sist me in acknowledging the divine goodness. He 
hath filled my soul with joy i by the light of his coun- 
tenance, 7 and given me, I hope, more and more to rise 
abote every thing selfish and temporal, that my soul 
may fix on what is divine and immortal. The great 
grief of my heart is, that I can do no more for Him. 
Oh that my zeal may increase, that I may know how, 
on every occasion, to think and speak and act for God 
in Christ, and may spend all the remainder of my 
days and hours on earth in what may have the most 
direct tendency to people heaven. I am so crowded 
with cares that they almost bear me down; yet, if 
they may be but cares for God, they are welcome. 77 



HIS PROMINENT TRAITS. 419 

He suffered much by tender sympathy with rela- 
tions and other friends in their afflictions ; yet in these 
circumstances he displayed the same patient, humble, 
cheerful resignation to the will of the Most High. 
Speaking of the dangerous illness of his wife, whom he 
loved almost to idolatry, and of the anxiety he had 
felt for her recovery, he says, " I bless God, my mind 
is kept in perfect peace and sweet harmony of resig- 
nation to his wise and gracious will. And indeed the 
less will we have of our own for any thing but to please 
him, the more comfort we shall find in whatever cir- 
cumstances he is pleased to allot to us." At another 
time of affliction, he observes, " I am ready to resign 
my agreeable circumstances, and to come, if such were 
the will of my Lord, to bread and water, and to a dun- 
geon, if his name may be but glorified by it, provided 
he will but look through the gloom, and cheer me with 
the light of his countenance. Yea, I am willing to 
submit, in the midst of inward as well as outward 
darkness, if his name may but be glorified. And when 
I feel this, as I bless God at some times I do, then a 
living fountain of consolation springs up in my soul, 
and the waters of life overflow me." 

His affectionate heart was often moved exceeding- 
ly by the death of brethren in the ministry, students 
under his care, and other friends ; yet his grief was 
modified and adorned by the most elevated devotion 
to God. Reflecting upon the loss of four of his most 
valuable friends in the course of a single year, he 
says, " How soon he may add me to the number of 
my fathers and brethren he only knows. I thankful- 
ly own that I am not solicitous about it. I hereby 



420 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

leave it under my hand before him, that I am his 
property — that I have no greater ambition than to be 
disposed of by him ; to be silent until he commands 
me to speak; to watch his eye and hand for every 
intimation of his will, and to do it and bear it as far 
as my little strength will carry me. waiting on him 
for further strength in proportion to renewed diffi- 
culties : and all my interests and concerns I do most 
cordially lodge in his hands, and leave myself and 
them to his wise and gracious disposal. ;; 

On another occasion of anxiety and distress, he 
writes, ;; This day my heart hath been almost torn in 
pieces with sorrow : yet, blessed be God, not a hope- 
less, not a repining sorrow, but so softened, and so 

otened, that with all its distress, I number it among 
the best days of my life — if that be good which teach- 
eth us faith and love, and which cherisheth the senti- 
ments of piety and benevolence. I desire very thank- 
fully to acknowledge that days of the sharpest trial 
have often been days of singular comfort. The re- 
peated views I have had of a dear dying friend, who 
is expressing so much of the divine presence and love, 
have comforted rather than dejected me. Blessed be 
God, who hath sealed us both with his grace, as th< 
that are to be companions in eternal glory, a thought 
which now hath a relish that nothing can exceed, 
nothing equal." 

viii. ih addition to what has incidentally 
been brought to view. we now proceed to illus- 
trate the eminently devotional character of dr. 
Doddridge's mind and habits. 



HIS PROMINENT TRAITS. 421 

Dr. Kippis observes, that " the prime and leading 
feature of his soul was devotion. This was the per- 
vading principle of his actions. What Dr. Johnson 
observed with regard to Dr. Watts, ' that as piety 
predominated in his mind, it was diffused over his 
works, and that whatever he took in hand was, by his 
incessant solicitude for souls, converted to theology/ 
may with equal propriety be applied to Dr. Dod- 
dridge." 

It has been already shown what uncommon pains 
he took, even in early life, to cultivate a devout spirit, 
and to walk in close communion with God. The 
noble career then commenced, was pursued, and with 
increasing fervor and success, to the very end of life. 
Morning, evening, and noon alike, he placed himself 
as an earnest suppliant privately before God, in his 
own behalf and in behalf of others. He labored also 
to keep his mind throughout the day in a spiritual and 
heavenly frame. Especially were his first thoughts in 
the morning, and his last at night, conscientiously and 
solemnly devoted to his God and Saviour. In the 
morning he made choice of some passage of Scripture, 
which at intervals of leisure might profitably occupy 
his thoughts, and prevent a waste of time during the 
day, and was accustomed to renew his covenant with 
God, and make a just dedication of soul, body, and 
estate to him ; and especially did he occupy the morn- 
ing of the Sabbath in devotional exercises, prepara- 
tory to his public labors in the sanctuary. 

Spiritual meditation he regarded as an important 
part of every Christian's duty; he found it a help to 
prayer, and a source of rich gratification. Though 



422 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

he abounded in secret prayer, he often expresses deep 
regret that his manifold and necessary cares had ren- 
dered him less frequent, fervent, and devout in the 
performance of this duty than he should have been. 
In all his seasons of devotion he abounded in praise 
and thanksgiving to God, as a means of promoting 
habitual cheerfulness of mind. The workings of his 
heart were as carefully attended to as the external 
actions of his life, and were placed on record for his 
own spiritual improvement. At fourteen years of age 
he began to keep a diary of his spiritual and intel- 
lectual progress. In later years, for the sake of sav- 
ing time, he indicated by a system of marks the frame 
of his mind, the character of his devotions, and the 
occupations pursued. He felt it expedient, parties 
larly in the earlier part of his ministry, to devote 
frequently a day to humiliation and special prayer 
for bringing the passions of his buoyant mind into due 
subjection and control. These labors for self-culture 
were rewarded with most signal and happy success. 

He was a careful and devout observer of the provi- 
dences of God, relating to himself, to his family, and 
to others. He kept a record of them, appending to the 
account such lessons, cautions, or memoranda, as they 
suggested to him at the time, which were recorded for 
future use. He recognized the hand of God in every 
kindness bestowed upon him by his friends, in the con- 
cern which any persons manifested for the support of 
religion, and also in the adverse events which took 
place, the death of beloved friends, the attacks which 
were made upon his good name, and the disappointment 
of some of his schemes of usefulness. At such times 



HIS PROMINENT TRAITS. 423 

his record would be, " My God is humbling nie, and I 
need it. Oh that it may quicken me likewise." He 
sought to turn the events which he recorded to a prac- 
tical account : for example, he says, " Falling into con- 
versation with some persons of rank who appeared to 
be profane and earthly, it imprinted on my mind, and 
may I ever retain it, a deep sense of the vanity of life 
when not governed by religion. I heartily pitied 
them, and was truly sensible of my obligations to 
God, who has in some measure formed me to sweeter 
pleasures and nobler expectations." 

He entertained exalted notions of the efficacy of 
prayer. He had often witnessed its happy effects 
when there was little to expect from human wisdom 
or strength alone ; he had read with deep interest 
well-attested accounts of its efficacy in many signal 
instances, and had experienced in his own spiritual 
progress the beneficial results of prayer. Hence, be- 
sides his stated seasons for private prayer, he seldom 
applied himself to study, to the composition of a ser- 
mon, or the writing of an important letter, without a 
previous offering of prayer for divine illumination 
and guidance. He performed the same act as a prep- 
aration for visiting the afflicted, or the unconverted, 
with whom he designed to converse upon the subject 
of their relations to God and to eternity. Before 
entering upon a journey, he was accustomed, in early 
life, to imagine the various scenes of danger, labor, or 
temptation, and to spread them out before the Lord 
with appropriate supplications for grace to meet them ; 
and after his return, he instituted a careful examina- 
tion of the manner and spirit in which he had encoun- 



424 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

tered them. It was his plan, when travelling with 
any of his students, or other intimate friends, to exert 
himself to render his conversation spiritually profita- 
ble, often introducing for this purpose a text of Scrip- 
ture as a subject of remark. It has also been stated 
that he kept his birthday and the New-year's day as 
days of solemn and thoughtful review, and of special 
religious meditations and resolutions. 

" Jan. 1, 1726-7. Last night I was seriously re- 
flecting on the year I am come to the conclusion of; 
and I now look forward to the year which I have 
entered upon. I see many necessities which can only 
be supplied by divine bounty; many duties which I 
shall be utterly unable to perform without the com- 
munications of divine grace; and many uncertain 
events which I cannot make myself easy about any 
other way than by referring them to the divine care. 
Nothing, therefore, can be more reasonable than to 
renew the dedication of myself to God this morning. 
Accordingly I have done it in secret prayer; and in 
order to confirm the impression of it on my heart, I 
now repeat it by the writing of my hand. 

" To thee, Oh glorious and eternal God, the Crea- 
tor, Preserver, and Ruler of all ; to thee the invisible 
Father of lights, and overflowing fountain of all good, 
do I devote my unworthy soul. In dependence on the 
atonement and intercession of thy dear Son, and on the 
powerful assistance of thine almighty grace, I humbly 
renew my covenant with thee. I am grieved and 
ashamed to think how wretchedly I have been alien- 
ated from thee ; I do now seriously determine that I 



HIS PROMINENT TRAITS. 425 

will endeavor in every action of life to approve my- 
self in thy sight, and to behave as thy faithful servant. 
To thee do I consecrate all that I am and have — all 
my time, worldly possessions, the powers of my soul, 
and the members of my body. And because it may 
be of use to specify some particulars comprehended in 
this general engagement, I would especially resolve to 
be more careful in the improvement of my time, to 
redeem it from useless visits, impertinent discourse, 
idle speculations, neglect of business, excessive recrea- 
tions ; and to watch over my actions, words, thoughts, 
and affections, answerably to these engagements. I 
will endeavor to conquer pride in my heart, and with 
the most vigorous resolution restrain all the appear- 
ances of it. I will endeavor to behave with constant 
kindness and complaisance, prudence, and gravity. I 
will labor after greater ardor in devotion, and use all 
proper means to attain it, especially preparing my 
heart, praying for thy Spirit, keeping up ejaculatory 
prayer, and using the assistance of Scripture. I will 
be watchful for opportunities of doing good both to 
the bodies and souls of my fellow-creatures, and con- 
sider all my time and worldly possessions as given me 
principally for this purpose. 

"In subservience to these general resolutions, I 
would particularly engage to maintain a constant de- 
pendence on thy grace, and frequent self-examination ; N 
to record remarkable appearances, and to recover 
from the first declension. I beg that thy grace may 
enable me to fulfil these engagements. All the un- 
known events of the year do I put into thy hands ; 
leaving it to thee to determine whether I shall be 



426 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

healthy or sick, rich or poor, honored or dishon- 
ored, surrounded with friends or deprived of them; 
successful in business or incapable of it, or disap- 
pointed in it; in a word, whether I shall live or 
die, only let me be thy servant. Wheresoever thou 
leadest, I will follow ; whatsoever thou takest, I will 
resign; whatsoever thou layest upon me, I will 
patiently bear : only let thy grace be sufficient for 
me; and then call me to what services or sufferings 
thou pleasest." 

The scenes of devotion often witnessed in the ves- 
try-room connected with the doctor's meeting-house, 
where he passed days of humiliation, fasting, and 
prayer, usually the days set apart for his devotional 
lectures, deserve distinct mention, as eminently condu- 
cive to his growth in grace, and to the success of his 
ministry. He has left behind many interesting records 
of the profitable manner in which those solitary days 
were passed. 

DAYS IN THE VESTRY-ROOM. 

"March 4, 1748-9. A variety of events which 
have lately happened, have been the means of throw- 
ing me very much off my guard, and preventing that 
self-government and enjoyment of God which I have 
frequently maintained, and in which I have been much 
happier than I now am. I have perceived the sensible 
withdrawings of the Spirit of God from me, owing to 
much company which broke in upon my morning and 
evening devotions, and brought upon me a habit of 
trifling ; so that I have felt little of lively devotion, 
and been defective in some parts of pastoral duty. 



HIS PROMINENT TRAITS. 427 

My heart smote me for this in the morning, and I de- 
termined to keep some particular hints of its frame, 
that I may judge how I proceed. My first resolution, 
in order to mend it, was to carry it directly to the 
throne of grace, to complain of it there, and implore 
divine influences to correct what is amiss, and better 
keep it for the future. I begged to be led into the 
cause of my declensions ; and I left the matter with 
the Lord to quicken me and comfort me in his own 
season ; and in the meantime expressed my desire of 
waiting, though in the least joyful frame, till He shall 
be pleased to return ; only desiring that I might wait 
in the posture of service, and that, if I should enjoy 
ever so little, I might do all in my power for my God. 
My carelessness in self-examination was an evil which 
also occurred to me in reflection. I formed some 
good resolutions with regard to these particulars. 
But when I consider how many of my good resolu- 
tions have died in embryo, I have been full of fear 
lest these should do so too. To prevent this, I would 
renew them in the divine strength, and in that strength 
would push them forward as fast as I can ; remember- 
ing that a man of forty-seven is to count upon very lit- 
tle time before him. On the whole it hath appeared 
to me, upon the most attentive survey, that I do in- 
deed love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity, and that 
my soul is safe for eternity should I be ever so sud- 
denly surprised into it ; but that there is much to be 
lamented and much to be corrected, or I shall lose 
much of that gracious reward which I might else 
have obtained, and much of that blessing on my en- 
deavors to do good which I might otherwise have ex- 



428 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

peeted ; that if I should go on to trifle with the bless- 
ed God, as in some instances I have done, particularly 
by putting off some services to which He calls me, on 
slight pretences, and indulging so much idleness and 
irresolution with regard to the evening and its devo- 
tions, I may probably be chastened and wounded in 
the tenderest part. 

" June 2, 1750. After my devotional lecture I re- 
tired to the vestry, and endeavored to prepare my soul 
for the work before me. I earnestly implored divine 
assistance ; then reviewed my late conduct, and strug- 
gled hard to humble myself deeply before God ; which, 
blessed be his name, I did. I reviewed the dealings 
of God with me, confessed my sins before him, earnest- 
ly desired the warmer exercises of divine love; re- 
newed with great sincerity the entire surrender of 
myself to God, and thought with unutterable delight 
on the counterpart of the covenant, that He is my 
God ; resolved in his strength rather to die than to 
deal unfaithfully with him. Neither life nor even 
heaven appeared desirable, but for his sake, to serve 
and enjoy Him. I read some passages of Scripture, 
especially the latter part of Romans 8, and some de- 
vout hymns. I then prayed for temporal and spiritual 
blessings for myself; and made earnest intercession for 
my dear flock, for each of my children, pupils, and 
select friends, by name. I also interceded, with grow- 
ing fervor, for the propagation of the gospel abroad, 
and the advancement of it in our own country. I 
then spent some time in projecting further schemes 
for the divine honor. A storm of thunder rising, I 
had some delightful views in reading Psalm 29. I 



HIS PROMINENT TRAITS. 429 

then set myself to a solemn act of thanksgiving, with 
which I concluded these retired devotions. And I 
must record it to the honor of divine grace, that I 
never enjoyed more of God in my whole life than in 
these five hours. Oh, how wanting have I been to 
myself, that I have no more sought such feasts as 
these. Cares lay in ambush for me at home, from 
which I had great reason to rejoice that I had so long 
escaped. 

11 Oct. 5, 1750. With great relish did I think of 
this day before its approach. It was late before I 
reached my asylum, the vestry. In pursuing my plan, 
I reviewed the memoranda of the last month, and saw 
much cause for thanksgiving, and to mingle humilia- 
tion with it — thanksgiving especially for assistance 
in my public labors, which, through grace, have been 
this month animated and pleasant ; but I had reason 
to be humbled that I had despatched much less busi- 
ness in my study than I should have done, and that 
there has been too great a neglect of the private care 
of my congregation. For this I humbled myself be- 
fore God, while I acknowledged his mercy. I found 
particular reason to praise him for some favors to me, 
with regard to the academy and congregation ; the 
prospect of success in some of my schemes for his 
glory ; the rise of the Society for Promoting Religious 
Knowledge among the Poor; and the prevention of 
some party schemes from taking place. 

"During these exercises I felt a holy joy in God 
in the views of heaven, and hope of appearing with 
acceptance at last in the presence of my Judge. I 
spent a whole hour in the delightful exercise of inter- 






430 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

cession; with great fervency pouring out my whole 
soul before God for the world and the church ; losing 
what was particular in what was general, upon truly 
Christian and catholic principles : God is witness. 
Before I entered on what was peculiar in the design 
of the day, I set myself to contemplate the sufferings 
of Christ. I had a delightful survey of them, and was 
enabled to rejoice in his triumph and glory, and anew 
to devote myself to him as not my own, but bought 
with a price. I found my heart inflamed with an ear- 
nest desire of acting for this Saviour, and asked of 
God wisdom and resolution for this purpose. In the 
close, I was taken up with admiring and adoring re- 
deeming love, and in blessing God for that communion 
which I had this day enjoyed with him. He hath been 
with me of a truth ; he hath heard the language of my 
heart as well as my voice, and I leave it on record 
that I have a cheerful expectation of his blessing, and 
hope to have new matter of praise as to manifestation 
of divine love to my soul, and ministerial success, be- 
fore another of these days return. I saw with regret 
my time for this exercise was ended. I left the feast 
with an appetite, and my soul said, ' It is good to be 
here.' 'Blessed be the Lord God from henceforth 
even for evermore. Amen. ? w 

If any should suppose that days of solemn com- 
munion with God like these must be days of wretch- 
edness, and are by no means to be coveted, the error 
will be corrected by referring to the testimony which 
Dr. Doddridge bears on this point in his " Rise and 
Progress of Religion," ch. 30, sec. 1, besides what is 
incidentally given in the records of such days just 



HIS PROMINENT TRAITS. 431 

quoted: "The experience of many years of my life 
hath established me in a persuasion that one day spent 
in a devout, religious manner, is preferable to whole 
years of sensuality and neglect of religion. The 
most considerable enjoyments which I expect or de- 
sire, in the remaining days of my pilgrimage on earth, 
are such as I have directed you to seek in religion. 
Such love to God, such constant activity in his ser- 
vice, such pleasurable views of what lies beyond the 
grave, appear to me— God is my witness — a felicity 
infinitely beyond any thing else which can offer itself 
to our affections and pursuits ; and I would not for 
ten thousand worlds resign my share in them, or con- 
sent even to the suspension of the delights which they 
afford, during the remainder of my abode here." 

Not only in his vestry-room, in his study, and in 
his social or public religious services alone, did Dr. 
Doddridge show a devout character, but in his general 
intercourse with his fellow-men. Even in small inter- 
vals of leisure, was he accustomed to lift up his heart 
to God ; his ordinary conversation evinced his devout 
temper ; his lectures even on natural science abound- 
ed in religious instructions which directed the mind 
to God and to heaven ; his visits were those of the 
spiritually-minded Christian, and of the man who was 
ever seeking to do good. It has been already shown 
that, when in company with persons of rank and dis- 
tinction he heard them utter words of profanity or 
licentiousness, he had the moral courage to reprove 
them in a most effective though gentle manner for 
such irregularities, without provoking resentment. 
His ordinarv social visits were often concluded with 



432 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

prayer ; while he took special pains to render his re- 
ligious or pastoral visits eminently instructive. 

His devout and pious spirit was delightfully man- 
ifested in a large portion of his extensive correspond- 
ence. His letters were often turned to a spiritual 
account. As a specimen of the method which he took 
to promote religion in the hearts of his correspond- 
ents, the following letter, written in 1728, is quoted 
by Mr. Orton. It furnishes a model of Christian 
letter-writing, which all should strive to imitate. 
The friend to whom this letter was addressed, had 
complained of the doctor's delay in writing to him ; 
to which he answers : 

" My negligence in writing was certainly a fault, 
but, to speak very freely to a friend from whom I 
affect to conceal nothing, doth not a fault of the same 
nature prevail in us both, with regard to other in- 
stances of much greater importance? We feel a very 
sensible concern when we have failed in any expres- 
sion of respect to a human friend ; but is there not an 
invisible Friend who deserves infinitely better of us 
both than we of each other, or than others of us? 
And yet Him, of all friends, we are most ready to 
forget. Believe me, my friend, when I think of my 
propensity to forget and offend God, all the instances 
of negligence which others can charge me with are as 
nothing, and I am almost ashamed of that regret which 
might otherwise appear reasonable and decent. Tell 
me freely, am I not opening a wound in your heart as 
well as in my own ? I hope and believe that you find 
a more abiding sense of the Divine presence, and that 
the principles of holy gratitude and love grow more 



HIS PROMINENT TRAITS. 433 

in your soul than in mine ; but yet is there not some 
room for complaint? I am well aware that this un- 
happy principle of indifference to God is implanted so 
deeply in our degenerate hearts, that nothing but the 
Divine power is able to eradicate it ; but let us make 
the attempt, and let us see how far the Spirit of God 
will enable us to execute a resolution which he has 
inspired. Is it' not possible, by the blessing of God 
on proper attempts, that we may in a short time make 
it as natural and habitual to our thoughts to centre 
themselves in God and a Redeemer, and in the impor- 
tant hopes of eternal glory, as we ever found it to be 
with regard to a favorite creature ? At least, let us 
not conclude the contrary until we have tried the 
experiment with ardor ; and can we say that we have 
ever yet tried it? Can we say that we have ever 
maintained the resolution to exert our utmost com- 
mand over our thoughts, so as to fix them upon divine, 
objects for one single week ? I have tried it for a day 
or two with encouraging success, but never yet had 
the constancy to hold out for a week. This evening, 
having concluded one quarter of the year, I have de- 
voted part of it to the review of my own temper and 
conduct ; and I find that the numberless evils which 
have surrounded me may be traced up to this unhap- 
py source, a forgetfulness of God. I have therefore 
determined, by the divine assistance, to attempt a ref- 
ormation, by binding myself to a most resolute oppo- 
sition to this ingratitude ; and I communicate the reso- 
lution to" you, to engage the assistance of your pray- 
ers, and to recommend to you to make a like attempt." 
The spirituality of Dr. Doddridge was evinced 

Doddridge, 19 



434 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

sometimes even in his dreams. One of these is quite 
remarkable. It was thus related by the Rev. Samuel 
Clarke of Birmingham, at the time his pupil at North- 
ampton : 

" Dr. Doddridge and my father, Dr. Clarke of St. 
Albans, had been one evening conversing upon the 
nature of the separate state, and of the probability 
that the scenes on which the soul would enter, upon 
leaving the body, would bear some resemblance to 
those with which it had been conversant while on 
earth ; so that it might by degrees be prepared for 
the sublime happiness of the heavenly world. This, 
and other conversation of the same kind, was the im- 
mediate occasion of the following dream : 

" Dr. Doddridge imagined himself dangerously ill 
at a friend's house in London, and that after lying in 
that state for some time, his soul left the body, and 
took its flight in some kind of vehicle, which, though 
very different from the body it had just quitted, was 
still material. He pursued his course till he was at 
some distance from the city, when, turning back and 
reviewing the town, he could not forbear saying to 
himself, ' How trifling and vain do the affairs which 
the inhabitants of this place are so eagerly employed 
in appear to me, a separate spirit/ At length, as he 
was continuing his progress, though without any cer- 
tain direction, yet easy and happy in the thought of 
the universal providence of God, which extends alike 
to all states and to all worlds, he was met by one 
who told him that he was sent to conduct him to the 
place appointed for him; from which he concluded 
that it could be no other than an angel. They went 



HIS PROMINENT TRAITS. 435 

on together till they came in sight of a spacious build- 
ing, which had the appearance of a palace ; upon which 
he inquired of his guide what it was, and was told 
that it was the place assigned for his residence at 
present. The doctor then observed, that he had read, 
when upon earth, that eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, 
nor have entered into the heart of man the great 
things God had laid up for his servants ; whereas he 
could easily conceive an idea of such a building as 
that before him, though somewhat inferior in point of 
elegance. The answer his guide made him was such 
as, from the conversation he had with his friend the 
evening before, might easily suggest itself: it was, that 
some of the first scenes that presented themselves to his 
view would bear a resemblance to those he had been ac- 
customed to upon earth, that his mind might be gradu- 
ally prepared the more easily to behold the unknown 
glories which would be presented to his view hereafter. 
"By this time they were come up to the palace, 
and his guide led him through a kind of saloon into 
an inner apartment, where the first thing he observed 
was a golden cup, which stood upon a table ; on this 
cup was embossed the figure of a vine bearing grapes. 
He asked his guide the meaning of it, who told him 
that it was the cup out of which our Saviour drank 
new wine with his disciples in his kingdom, and that 
the carved figures were to signify the union between 
Christ and his people; implying that as the grapes 
derive all their beauty and sweetness from the vine, 
bo the saints, even in a state of glory, are indebted for 
their virtue and happiness to their union with their 
immortal Head, in whom they are all complete. 



436 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

" While they were conversing he thought he heard 
a gentle tap at the door, and was informed by his 
guide that it was the signal of his Lord's approach, 
and intended to prepare him for the interview. Ac- 
cordingly, in a short time, he thought he beheld 
his Saviour enter the chamber, upon which he cast 
himself down at His feet, when He graciously raised 
him up, and with a look of inexpressible complacency, 
assured him of His favor, and kind acceptance of his 
faithful services; and as a token of peculiar regard, 
and of the intimate friendship He intended to honor 
him with, He took up the cup, and after drinking of it 
himself, gave it into his hands, which the doctor 
thought he declined, as too great a favor and honor ; 
but his Lord replied, as He did to Peter, with regard 
to washing his feet : ' If thou drink not with me, thou 
hast no part with me.' This scene, he said, filled him 
with such a transport of gratitude, love, joy, and ad- 
miration, that he was ready to sink under it ; his Mas- 
ter seemed sensible of it, and told him He should leave 
him for the present, but that it would not be long be- 
fore He repeated his visit; and that in the mean time, 
he would have enough to employ his thoughts in re- 
flecting on the past, and in contemplating the objects 
around him. 

" As soon as his Lord was retired, and his mind a 
little composed, he observed that the room was hung 
around with pictures ; and upon examining them at- 
tentively, discovered, to his great surprise, that they 
represented the history of his own life : all the remark- 
able scenes he had passed through being thus portray- 
ed in the most lively manner, it may be easily imag- 



HIS PROMINENT TRAITS. 437 

ined how they would affect his mind. The many temp- 
tations and trials he had been exposed to, the signal 
instances of the Divine goodness to him in all the dif- 
ferent periods of his life, which by this means were all 
fully represented to his view, at once again excited the 
strongest emotions of gratitude and love, especially 
when he considered that he was beyond the reach of 
future distress, and that all the purposes of the divine 
love and mercy towards him were at length happily 
fulfilled. The ecstasy of joy and thankfulness into 
which these ideas threw him were so great that he 
awoke. For some considerable time, however, after 
he arose, the impression continued so strong and live- 
ly that tears of joy flowed down his cheeks, and he 
said that he never remembered on any occasion to 
have felt sentiments of devotion, love, and gratitude 
equally impressed upon his inind." 

It was under the impression of this dream that he 
wrote the following hymn, to be found in his works. 

Philippians 1: 21. 

While on the verge of life I stand, 
And view the scene on either hand, 
My spirit struggles with its clay, 
And longs to wing its flight away. 

Where Jesus dwells my soul would be ; 
It faints my much-loved Lord to see : 
Earth, twine no more around my heart, 
For Oh, 'twere better to depart. 

Come, ye angelic envoys, come, 
And lead the willing pilgrim home ; 
Ye know the way to that bright throne, 
Source of my joys, and of your own. 



438 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

That blessed interview ! how sweet 
To fall transported at his feet ; 
Raised in his arms, to view his face 
Through the full beamings of his grace. 

To see heaven's shining courtiers round, 
Each with immortal glories crowned ; 
And while His form in each I trace, 
With that fraternal band embrace. 

As with a seraph's voice to sing ; 
To fly as on a cherub's wing ; 
Performing, with unwearied hands, 
A present Saviour's high commands. 

Yet with these prospects full in sight, 
I 'U wait thy signal for my flight ; 
And in thy service here below 
Confess that heavenly joys may grow. 



HIS LAST DAYS. 439 



CHAPTER VIII. 
THE LAST DAYS OF DODDRIDGE. 

We have followed with interest this great and 
good man to the zenith of his popularity, laborious- 
ness, and usefulness. It is now with solemn and pain- 
ful feelings we are to see him removed from the people 
whom he loved and served so well, from the academy 
in which he had trained so many learned and godly 
ministers, and from the domestic circle where he was 
so ardently loved and so highly venerated. His path 
had been that of the just, " as the shining light, which 
shineth more and more unto the perfect day." We 
shall see that the light of holiness, which he shed 
around his path, became brighter and brighter until 
it was lost in the splendors of the world of glory. 

The last funeral-sermon which he preached was at 
St. Albans, for his early friend and benefactor the 
Rev. Samuel Clarke, D. D. It was a service that 
cost his precious life. On the journey he took cold, 
which so impaired his lungs during the winter and 
spring, that in the following summer he was obliged 
altogether to lay aside his important occupations at 
Northampton, and devote himself to medical treat- 
ment, recreation, and travel. He was too slow, how- 
ever, in beginning this course. His physician and 
friends had for months sought in vain to induce him 
to intermit his arduous labors as a preacher, tutor, 
author, and correspondent; but when his danger be- 



440 PHILIP DODDEIDGE. 

came perfectly obvious, he reluctantly yielded to their 
advice, regarding it as worse than death to live and 
not be useful. At this time he was observed by his 
friends and correspondents to be making uncommon 
progress in spirituality and heavenly-mindedness, as 
svas fit in one whose further stay on earth was des- 
tined to be of very short duration. 

Thus, in some of the letters written about this 
period to his friends, he says, " I bless God earth is 
less and less to me ; and I shall be very glad to have 
done with it once for all, as soon as it shall please my 
Master to give me leave. Yet for him I would live 
and labor, and I hope, if such were his will, suffer 
too." " Should God spare my life, many opportunities 
of doing good may arise ; but to depart and be with 
Christ is far, infinitely, better. I desire the prayers 
of my friends in my present circumstances. I remem- 
ber them in my poor way; but alas, what with my 
infirmities, and what with the hurries to which I am 
here in London peculiarly obnoxious, and the many 
' affairs and interruptions which are pressing upon me, 
my praying time is sadly contracted. I feel nothing 
in myself at present that should give me reason to 
apprehend immediate danger; but the obstinacy of 
my cough, and its proneness to return upon every lit- 
tle provocation, gives me some alarm. Go on to pray 
for me that my heart may be fixed on God ; that every 
motion and every word may be directed by love to 
him, and zeal for his glory ; and leave me with him 
as cheerfully as I leave myself. May you increase 
while I decrease, and shine many years as a bright 
star in the Redeemer's hand when I am set. ?; 



HIS LAST DAYS. 441 

His last administration of the Lord's supper was at 
Northampton, June 2, 1751. The text from which 
he preached was Heb. 22:23: "Ye are come to the 
general assembly and church of the first-born, etc." 
At the conclusion of that service he mentioned with 
uncommon pleasure that view of Christ given in the 
Revelation, as " holding the stars in his right hand, 
and walking among the candlesticks," expressive of 
his authority over ministers and churches, his right 
to dispose of them as he pleaseth, and the care he 
taketh of them. He dropped some hints of his ap- 
proaching dissolution, and with the greatest tender- 
ness and affection spoke of his being about to take a 
final leave of them. He shortly after proceeded to 
London, where he passed several weeks, but not with 
the hoped-for result of benefiting his health ; the hur- 
ries and labors connected with his visit served only 
to increase his malady. 

His last sermon was preached to his own dear 
people at Northampton, immediately after his return 
from London, on July 14, 1751. His friends entreat-* 
ed him not to incur the fatigue and hazard of preach- 
ing this sermon, which, though not prepared as a fare- 
well sermon, nevertheless proved to be such, and was 
eminently adapted to an occasion so important and 
solemn. It was founded on Eom. 14 : 8 : " For wheth- 
er we live, we live unto the Lord ; or whether we die, 
we die unto the Lord ; whether we live therefore, or 
die, we are the Lord's." He showed that it is essen- 
tial to the character of true Christians to be devoted 
to Christ, in life and in death ; that it is peculiarly 
the duty of Christian ministers to live thus; to direct 



442 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

their hearers to Christ as the foundation of their hope, 
to engage them to live by faith in him, and promote 
the great end of his undertaking. He showed that 
they are also devoted to Christ in death ; as they are 
sincerely willing to die for Christ, if, in the course of 
Providence, they should be called to it ; and further, 
as they are desirous that Christ may be honored by 
their dying behavior, recommending him to those who 
are about them, and solemnly resigning their own 
souls into his hands. He farther showed that it is 
the happiness of true Christians to be the care of 
Christ in life and death ; that he will prolong their 
lives, and continue their usefulness as long as he sees 
it good ; that he will also take care of them in the 
closing scene, adjusting the circumstances of it so as 
to subserve the purposes of his glory, granting them 
all necessary supports in death, and after that, giving 
them eternal life, and raising them up at the last day. 
The last public religious service in which he par- 
ticipated was on July 18, at the ordination of the 
Rev. Mr. Adams at Bewdley, in Worcestershire. It 
seemed a fitting close to the public career of this dis- 
tinguished educator of young ministers. It was a 
service from which his enfeebled strength, as indi- 
cated in his pallid countenance and trembling voice, 
should have excused him ; but having promised his 
assistance some weeks before, he was unwilling to be 
absent, or to remain silent on an occasion to him so 
deeply interesting. His earnest and humble spirit is 
shown in the brief letter which he previously wrote 
in relation to it : "I am at present much indisposed. 
My cough continues, and where it may end God only 



HIS LAST DAYS. 443 

knows. I will, however, struggle hard to come to 
Bewdley, that I may be fitter to serve Christ if I live, 
or to go and enjoy him if I die. I can write but lit- 
tle ; help me with your prayers. My unworthiness is 
greater even than my weakness, though that be great. 
Here is my comfort, the ' strength of Christ ' may per- 
haps be ' made perfect in weakness. 7 " 

From Bewdley Dr. Doddridge passed on to Shrews- 
bury, the residence of the Rev. Mr. Orton, his belov- 
ed pupil. Here he spent several weeks in entire 
seclusion from company, and from business ; and tak- 
ing exercise in the open air. But his absent friends 
forgot him not: letters of the most affecting tender- 
ness and sympathy poured in upon him from all quar- 
ters, from which we select a few that will be read 
with deep and mournful interest. 

From the Rev. John Barker. 

" August 5, 1751. 

"Leesingham, Neal, and Barker, are too nearly 
interested in that precious life, which now appears in 
danger of being cut off in the midst of its days, to 
'hear of its waste and languishment without great con- 
cern and fervent prayer to God. How your letter 
affected my heart in public, your friends are witnesses ; 
but what I felt for my brother, and the ministers and 
churches of Christ, God and myself only know. 

" I will not now say, Why did you not spare your- 
self a little sooner ? I will rather heartily thank you 
that you use all the means you can to repair your 
frame, and restore and prolong your usefulness. It 
is the kindest thing you can do, and the highest in- 



444 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

stance of friendship you can now show us ; and I ac- 
knowledge your goodness to us on this point with 
tears of joy. Consent and choose to stay with us a 
lit tie longer, my dear friend, if it please God. This 
is not only needful to Northampton and its adjacent 
towns and villages, but desirable to us all, and bene- 
ficial to our whole interest. Stay, Doddridge, Oh 
stay, and strengthen our hands, whose shadows grow 
long. Fifty is but the height of vigor, usefulness, and 
honor. Do not take leave abruptly. Providence 
hath not yet directed thee on whom to drop thy man- 
tle. Who shall instruct our youth, fill our vacant 
churches, animate our associations, and diffuse a spirit 
of piety, moderation, candor, and charity through our 
villages, and a spirit of prayer and supplication into 
our towns and cities, when thou art removed from us ; 
especially, who shall unfold the sacred oracles, teach 
us the meaning and use of our Bibles, rescue us from 
bondage of systems, party opinions, empty, useless 
speculations, and fashionable forms and phrases, and 
point out the simple, intelligible, consistent religion 
of our Lord and Saviour? Who shall — but I am 
silenced by the voice of Him who says, ' Shall I not 
do what I will with mine own? Is it not my pre- 
rogative to take and leave, as seemeth me good ? I 
demand the liberty of disposing of my own servants 
at my own pleasure. He hath labored more abun- 
dantly. His times are in my hand. He hath not slept 
as do others. He hath risen to nobler heights than 
things below. He hopes to inherit glory. He hath 
labored for that which endureth to eternal life ; labor 
which, the more it abounds, the more it exalts and 



HIS LAST DAYS. 445 

magnifies, and the more effectually answers and secures 
its end. It is yours to wait and trust, mine to dispose 
and govern. On me be the care of ministers, and of 
churches. With me is the residue of the Spirit. Both 
the vineyard and the laborers are mine. I set them 
to work, and when I please, I call them and give them 
their hire. 7 With these thoughts my passions sub- 
side, my mind is softened and satisfied. I resign thee, 
myself, and all, to God, saying, ' Thy will be done.' 

" But now for the wings of faith and contempla- 
tion. Let me take thy hand, my dear brother, and 
walk a turn or two in yonder spacious regions. Yes, 
it is so : we read it in the book of God, that word of 
truth, and gospel of our salvation, ' that as in Adam 
all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive/ 
The one ruined his posterity by sin, the other raised 
his seed to immortality. The first poisoned the dart, 
and inflamed the wound of death ; but Jesus Christ 
redeemed us from this captivity. See, thou Christian 
minister, thou friend of my bosom and faithful servant 
of God — see the important period, when the surprising 
signs and descending inhabitants of heaven proclaim 
the second coming of our divine Saviour ! the heavens 
open and disclose his radiant glory. Hear the awak- 
ening trumpet ; see the dead in Christ arise glorious 
and immortal, leave corruption, weakness, and dis- 
honor behind them, and behold their Lord and Head 
seated on his throne of judgment, attended and sur- 
rounded with the ministers of his power, and shining 
in all the fulness of celestial glory ; and not only see, 
but share his victory, and partake of his image and 
influence. And behold the demolished fabric reared 



446 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

again, stately, illustrious, and permanent, to demon- 
strate how entirely death is vanquished, its ruins re- 
paired, and what was once food for worms become the 
companion of angels ; for when this corruptible shall 
have put on incorruption, and this mortal immortali- 
ty, every eye will be fixed on the mighty Conqueror, 
and every voice and harp be tuned for that transport- 
ing song, ' Oh death, where is thy sting ? Oh grave, 
where is thy victory?' Yes, Doddridge, it is so. 
The fruit of our Redeemer's sufferings and victory is 
the entire, the eternal destruction of sin and death. 
And is it not a glorious destruction — a blessed ruin ? 
No enemy so formidable, no tyranny so bitter, no fet- 
ters so heavy and galling, no prison so dark and dis- 
mal, but they are vanquished and disarmed ; the un- 
erring dart is blunted and broken, the prison pulled 
down, and our Lord is risen as the first-fruits of them 
that slept. 

" How glad should I be to hear that God is pleased 
to prolong your life on earth to declare these glorious 
truths, and teach us to improve them. In this, your 
friends, with you, and many more in every place, join, 
and make it their common petition to the great Dis- 
poser of all events. Use every means you can for the 
recovery of your health, for the sake of your friends, 
among whom is your faithful and affectionate, 

"J. BARKER." 

When Dr. Doddridge received this letter, he was 
at Shrewsbury for the benefit of a change of air, and 
an entire recess from business and company ; and Mr. 
Orton tells us, that he was so affected, and melted 
into tears of gratitude and joy with the friendship 



HIS LAST DAYS. 447 

expressed in it, and the divine consolations which it 
administered, that he was apprehensive his tender 
frame would have sunk under the emotion. 

From Nathaniel Neal, Esq. 

"August 6, 1751. 
" I did not receive your favor till Saturday, when 
it met me at Clapham. The next morning being Sun- 
day, I communicated the contents as far as they re- 
lated to the state of your health and spirits, to Mr. 
Barker, before he went into the pulpit. You may be 
sure that we are all greatly affected with the danger 
that threatens a life so universally desirable, and to 
us so peculiarly endeared ; and our invaluable friend 
dissolved not only us, but a great part of his numerous 
audience into tears, by the almost inspired eloquence 
with which he offered up strong pleas and cries for 
your support and revival, to Him who is able to de- 
liver from death. God grant our supplications may 
be effectual as they are unfeigned and continual ; and 
if the mercy be delayed, may divine consolations in 
the meantime descend upon you. I trust in God they 
may be heard, and that many years will yet be added 
to so important a life. To this end, my dear friend, 
I beseech you not to think of returning to Northamp- 
ton, even though you should receive all imaginable 
benefit at Shrewsbury in the ensuing fortnight, till 
you have visited Bristol; and in preparing for that 
expedition, I conceive no time should be lost, as the 
season for the waters, as well as of the year, is so far 
advanced. I should tremble for your return to North- 
ampton at present, notwithstanding some encouraging 
symptoms; for a relapse could hardly fail of being 



448 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

fatal, and in such a circumstance would be almost 
certain, considering your various engagements and ac- 
tive temper. The examination is not worth a thought, 
and if my advice might be offered, I should wish it 
turned into a day of prayer for your recovery. How- 
ever that may be, Mr. Clarke, I am persuaded, is able 
to do what is fully sufficient ; and I should much rath- 
er hear the academy was disbanded, than that you 
should read a single lecture between this and Michael- 
mas. In one word, your whole duty to God and man 
is comprehended in the care of your health. 

" The cheerfulness of your mind will afford great 
satisfaction to your friends, and do honor to religion ; 
and I consider Mrs. Doddridge's confirmed health, 
whereby she is capable of ministering unto you under 
your infirmities, as a matter of great thankfulness. 
May she receive the best direction and support. I 
rejoice that she has with her so faithful and able a 
friend as Mrs. Orton, to whom I beg the tender of my 
best respects. 

" We all salute you with the tenderest affection, 
considering ourselves also as on the borders of eter- 
nity, and referring it to divine wisdom, whether we 
are to learn to die by the gentler lessons of your re- 
peated instructions, or, once for all, by your great 
example." 

While he continued at Bristol some of the princi- 
pal persons of his congregation visited him, with an 
affection not to be expressed; they brought him an 
assurance of the highest esteem and tender sympathy 
of his people, and informed him that prayer was made 



HIS LAST DAYS. 449 

for him by that church three evenings in every week, 
and that some other churches were engaged in the 
same work on his account. This afforded him great 
satisfaction and refreshment. He knew their prayers 
would not be, upon the whole, in vain, though he con- 
sidered his life as hopeless, and said, that unless God 
should interpose in such an extraordinary manner as 
he had no reason to expect, he could not long continue 
in the land of the living. He ascribed to the efficacy 
of the prayers of his friends the composure and joy 
he felt in his own soul, and the preservation of Mrs. 
Doddridge's health amid incessant fatigue and anx- 
iety. 

It was judged expedient, as we have already seen, 
that Dr. Doddridge should repair to Bristol, to try 
the efficacy of the hot wells ; and there he received 
most affectionate attentions and sympathy from a cler- 
gyman of the Establishment, and from other friends. 
The waters affording him no relief, and the physicians 
intimating to him the almost hopeless condition of his 
health, he received their unfavorable report with that 
cheerful fortitude and resignation which remained 
with him to the last moment. Illustrations of this 
fact are abundant in Or ton's memoir of him; for ex- 
ample, " While the outward man was so sensibly de- 
caying that he used to say to his friends, ' I die daily/ 
the inward man was renewed day by day. The 
warmth of his devotion, zeal, and friendship was main- 
tained and increased. His physicians had directed 
him to write and speak as little as possible, but he 
could not satisfy himself without sometimes writing a 
few lines to some of his friends whom he could ad- 



450 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

dress in shorthand without much fatigue. The frame 
of his heart in view of death will appear in the fol- 
lowing extract: 

" I see indeed no hope of recovery, yet my heart 
rejoiceth in my God, and in my Saviour, and I can 
call him, under this failure of every thing else, its 
strength and everlasting portion. I must now thank 
you for your heart-reviving letter to strengthen my 
faith, to comfort my soul, and to assist me in swallow- 
ing up death in victory. God hath, indeed, been won- 
derfully good to me ; but I am less than the least of his 
mercies, less than the least of his children. Adored 
be his grace for whatever it hath wrought by me ; and 
blessed be you of the Lord for the strong consolations 
you have been the instrument of administering. Let 
me desire you to write again, and to pour out your 
heart freely with all its strong cordial sentiments of 
Christianity. Nothing will give me greater joy. 
What a friend you will be in heaven! How glad 
shall I be to welcome you there, after a long and 
glorious course of service to increase the lustre of 
your crown ! May you long shine, with your light, 
warmth, and influence, when there remain not any 
united particles of that poor, wasting, sinking frame, 
which enables this immortal spirit to call itself your 
friend in everlasting bonds." 

About this period Mrs. Doddridge received a most 
delicate and touching letter of sympathy from Robert 
Crittenden, Esq., a gentleman in London, the author 
of several well-known hymns, and whose hospitality 
gathered many eminent Christian gentlemen around 
him. We give only an extract : 



HIS LAST DAYS. 451 

11 1 long to see him once more before lie puts on 
his robes of immortality, and from the best, the dear- 
est of men, commences a perfect spirit. Oh, could I 
have thought, when I took my leave of him at St. Al- 
bans, that it was to be the last time I should ever see 
my dear, my honored friend, I should have better 
employed the hours we were alone in our journey 
thither. Now, madam, all I want is your leave to 
wait on him once more. I long to receive his dying 
blessing, but would not purchase that satisfaction by 
giving him one uneasy moment, or hastening a loss 
which I think I could sacrifice my own worthless life 
to prevent. He loved me, madam, though I know not 
why, and perhaps my name is not quite a stranger to 
his dying bed. Amid the glories that are opening 
upon him, perhaps he still pities the distress of those 
he leaves behind; and surely, if distress can excite 
compassion, not one of all his numerous friends has a 
stronger claim." 

The Rev. Daniel Neal, a correspondent and friend 
of Dr. Doddridge, was a man of considerable distinc- 
tion in his day. He was born in London in 1678, 
and after receiving an excellent education in England 
and Holland, he became in 1706 pastor of a church in 
London, where his congregation so increased as to 
be compelled to remove to a larger house of worship. 
His first publication from the press was " The History 
of New England," which excited great interest. He 
was the author of the well-known " History of the 
Puritans," and the father of Mr. Nathaniel Neal of 
the Million Bank, who was one of Mr. Coward's 



452 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

trustees, and also a friend and correspondent of Dod- 
dridge. 

From Nathaniel Neal, Esq. 

" Tunbridge Wells, Sept. 1, 1751. 

" I feel a struggle in my breast while I deliberate 
whether, considering the feeble state of your health, I 
should break or keep silence ; but such is the officious- 
ness of friendship, anxious, though impotent to afford re- 
lief, that inquiry must be made after an afflicted friend, 
though at some hazard of disturbing his slumbers. 

" How affected we all were — in which number I 
include Mr. Barker and his lady, for in our love and 
in our distress for you we are all one — with those vari- 
ous events which befell you in your progress to, and 
on your arrival at Bristol, I choose not to mention ; 
yet I trust in God it will be seen in the issue, that it 
was the kind hand of his providence that conducted 
you thither, as to the waters of life ; for though to 
you it were a matter of choice not to revive at all till 
you obtain a part in the better resurrection, yet in 
compassion for us, in compassion for the world, it is 
my daily prayer — forgive me this wrong — that you may 
not yet increase the number and enhance the triumphs 
of the blessed. 

" I persuade myself, my dear friend, that you have 
left all your cares, as well as all your business, at 
Northampton, and that you will be inaccessible to 
every uninvited guest. Ceremony is the bane of soli- 
tude; and even the draught of pious and cheerful 
converse should be taken in measure, when the appe- 
tite of the soul is so eager, and every kind of exercise 
has been found so fatal. 



HIS LAST DAYS. 453 

" I presume you know before this time that the 
examination of your pupils on Monday last, as far as 
was consistent in your absence, proceeded with signal 
honor to Mr. Clarke, and satisfaction to the trustees, 
of which Mr. Price has, by letter, since his return, 
given me a most obliging account. But whence have 
you your remittances to Bristol? The settling ac- 
counts is a trouble of which you should now be eased ; 
I desire therefore, that either you or Mrs. Doddridge 
will draw on me for any sum you want, without any 
other ceremony than advising me of it by a line ; or if 
you can devise any other method to prove my friend- 
ship, it will be a kind relief to one who is oppressed 
under a sense of his inability, in this season of diffi- 
culty, to do you service. 

" And now, my dear friend, though I am no advo- 
cate for the sleeping of the soul, yet methinks I could 
wish that you, who are all soul, having so nearly worn 
out the frail vehicle in its service, could for a while 
suspend the thinking power, that the body might have 
time to revive. We all submit to deny ourselves the 
expectation of hearing from you, that the time a letter 
would cost you may be devoted to rest. A line from 
any hand will satisfy us, if you are better; if other- 
wise, a word will be more than we can well support. 
Compliments are vain while you possess our hearts; 
and as for Mrs. Doddridge, while as ministering to 
you she shares the office, may she partake of the re- 
freshment of angels. 

" Adieu. Be God ever with you ; which is the 
most comprehensive good that can be wished you." 






454 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

To Miss Doddridge. 

" Bristol Wells, Sept. 4, 1751. 

" I thank my dear Polly for her affectionate letter 
and prudent care of my affairs ; and I thank God that 
I have such a daughter. I can write but little, but I 
give you the pleasure of telling you that I am really 
and certainly a little better, and that I have great 
hopes that God will hear the many prayers offered, 
and conduct me home in due time with joy. In the 
mean while let us leave ourselves with God, submit to 
his providence, and hope in his mercy. 

11 Present my most affectionate love to your dear 
brother, and dear Mercy and Celia, in which your 
mamma joins. I cannot say with what endearments 
I am yours." 

Soon after the above was written, and indeed pre- 
viously, it was apparent to the physicians and other 
friends of Dr. Doddridge, that the only hope for im- 
provement of health, or for the prolongation of his 
precious life, was to be found in a resort to a warmer 
climate. It was proposed to him to take a voyage to 
Lisbon. The principal objection in his mind was the 
great expense to which it would subject him, and which 
he felt he was unable to provide for. "He doubted 
whether, with so precarious a hope of its being bene- 
ficial to him, he should pursue it; when his family, 
which, in case of his decease, would be but slenderly 
provided for, would suffer so much by the expense of 
the voyage. It will appear, I hope, to every consider- 
ate reader, a glorious circumstance in the doctor's life, 
that it was sacrificed to the generous disinterested ser- 






HIS LAST DAYS. 455 

vice of his great Master, and benevolence to mankind ; 
that, with the advantages of a genius and qualifica- 
tions equal to the highest advancement in the Estab- 
lishment, and without being chargeable with want of 
economy, he should find himself under the necessity 
of preserving the little remainder of his life by an 
expense disproportionate to the provision made for 
his family, dear to him as his own life." 

It will soon appear, however, that this objection 
was most courteously set aside by the liberality of a 
few friends, as soon as it was known that the state 
of his health demanded the expense of a journey to the 
sunny land of Portugal. 

From Mr. Williams. 

"Kidderminster, Sept. 2, 1751. 
" Whither you are going perhaps I shall not fol- 
low you just now, but I trust, through the riches of 
adorable grace, I shall follow you hereafter. I am 
grieved for myself, and for many dear friends, for the 
church militant, and particularly for your own dear 
charge, and most sensibly of all, for dear Mrs. Dod- 
dridge and your children. But I dare to congratu- 
late you, dear saint, that having fought a good fight, 
you are so near the end of your course, and will quick- 
ly receive a glorious crown. I rejoice that your even- 
ing sun has no cloud. God is faithful. Those who 
know his name will put their trust in him. Jesus, our 
almighty friend, is full of compassion, is afflicted in all 
your affliction, and will not fail to succor you in the 
darkest hour. Human nature, perhaps, cannot be quite 
fearless of approaching dissolution ; but faith will ob- 
tain the victory. God sees fit to hold his dear chil- 



456 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

dren in a state of dependence to the last ; but the 
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ is sufficient for you, 
and will be ever near. You have had many a Pisgah 
view; and if it be best, you shall have another, a 
clearer than ever yet, before you pass Jordan. And 
doubt not, my dear sir, but He who cut off the waters 
from before the ark, and caused his chosen people to 
pass dry-shod into Canaan, can do as much for you. 

" It will be the joy of my heart to hear you had a 
triumphant passage into the everlasting kingdom of 
our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. It will also be 
the joy of my heart if I may have opportunity and 
ability any way to serve and promote the interests of 
your dear surviving relatives. And it shall be my 
daily prayer that your faith may not fail. But I am 
a poor intercessor. It is well you have many, many 
others, and One that is infinitely better." 

From the Rev. W. Warburton, D. D. 

"Prior Park, Sept. 2, 1751. 
"Your kind letter gave me, and will give Mr. 
Allen great concern ; but for ourselves, not you. 
Death, whenever it happens, in a life spent like yours, 
is to be envied, not pitied; and you will have the 
prayers of your friends, as conquerors have the shouts 
-of the crowd. God preserve you : if he continues you 
here, to go on in his service ; if he takes you to him- 
self, to be crowned with glory. 

" Be assured the memory of our friendship will be 
as durable as my life. I order an inquiry to be made 
of your health from time to time ; but if you fatigue 
yourself any more in writing, it will prevent me that 



HIS LAST DAYS. 451 

satisfaction. I am, dear sir, your most affectionate 
friend and brother, 

"W. WARBURTON." 

From the Rev. Caleb Ashworth to Mrs. Doddridge. 

"London, Sept. 10, 1751. 

" I have been nearly a fortnight in town, and have 
scarcely heard any news inquired for but, l How is Dr. 
Doddridge V You will believe I have been not a lit- 
tle pleased with the concern that every person I have 
met with, and even some whom I suspected of being 
too indifferent, have discovered. It was indeed a 
very sensible satisfaction to me, not only as a proof of 
respect to a person so deservedly dear to me, but also 
as it gave encouragement to hope that God would hear 
those prayers which his people seemed disposed so uni- 
versally to offer on this account. God did not surely 
design to give that shock to our faith in the benefit of 
prayer, which the denial of those addresses would 
have been which he had put it into our hearts to pre- 
sent. I say which he had put into our hearts ; for 
though we could never part with Dr. Doddridge with- 
out great reluctance, I do verily believe there was 
much of God's influence in that earnestness which we 
found ourselves inclined to use upon the occasion. 

" And for you, dear madam, may the eternal God 
be your support, and give you proportionable strength 
under all the sympathy you feel, the labors you are 
called to undertake, and the fears you may at any 
time have occasion to entertain. These are prayers 
daily offered up with unfeigned importunity; and 
which, I trust, it will endear the methods of provi- 
dence to me to find answered. 

Doddridge. 20 



458 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

" I beg my cordial salutations to the doctor, and 
that you will tell him I was scarcely ever more desir- 
ous to see my own father ; and that I feel great joy 
in the hope of meeting him at Northampton, and of 
joining my brethren in praising God on his account, 
with a fervency equal to that with which we united 
in pouring forth our hearts in prayer for him." 

From Nathaniel Neal, Esq. 

" Tunbridge Wells, Sept. 11, 1751. 

"Mr. Johnson came into Mr. Barker's lodgings 
with your letter while I was there to-day with my 
family at dinner, and after the contents of it had been 
considered, I was desired to put our united opinion, 
which you know, where a consultation has been held, 
is the province of the youngest, into writing. 

" We all agree that the single point which must 
determine the expedience of your making trial of a 
warmer climate, is the probability of its restoring your 
health, of which your physicians are the only compe- 
tent judges. The accounts you have had of its suc- 
cess in like cases, is undoubtedly a strong testimony 
in favor of their judgment ; and Mr. Barker mention- 
ed it to me last Sunday as what he apprehended might 
prove the most probable means of your speedy and 
perfect recovery. 

" The objections arising in your mind, from your 
connections with your academy, church, or family, 
must not be suffered to deter or perplex you. If we 
cannot supply your place for six months, how shall we 
supply it if you go to the world from which there is 
no return ? Be assured, my dear friend, that so far 
from being dismayed, we spring forward in the hope 



HIS LAST DAYS. 459 

of being instrumental in keeping alive the many pre- 
cious interests that lie near your heart, till you return 
and cherish them again under your own tender wing. 
" May God Almighty, the alone all-sufficient friend 
and counsellor, inspire you and your dear ]ady with 
wisdom and magnanimity equal to every emergency ; 
and be assured that, while we have any heart or breath 
remaining, our prayers and our affections will follow 
you, though you should remove to the ends of the 
earth." 

From the same. 

"Million Bank, Sept. 21, 1751. 

" I pray God the measure advised by so great a 
body of the college may be as successful as, with such 
a sanction, it was apparently irresistible. 

" Your provision for the academy, I can already 
assure you, is very satisfactory to Dr. Jennings, Mr. 
Price, and myself, and I have no doubt will be so to 
Dr. Guyse, to whom I shall communicate it the first 
opportunity. We had a meeting on the day before 
your last letter arrived ; at which the trustees unani- 
mously, and with the warmest affection, agreed to 
desire your acceptance of thirty guineas, as a present 
towards your expenses at Lisbon, and in your voyage 
thither. 

" And now, my dear friend, I cheerfully accept the 
office of your banker and steward ; and though I un- 
dertake for nothing more, yet, from the generous ardor 
many of your friends express towards you, do not 
despair of receiving your stock entire, if it be the will 
of God that you return to us again. You go with a 
full gale of prayer, and I trust we shall stand ready 



460 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

on the shore to receive you back with shouts of praise. 
But it becomes us also to be prepared for a more aw- 
ful event ; and I think it needful to desire you to tell 
Mrs. Doddridge, though God forbid the hand should 
wound that fain would heal, that we, as it were, for- 
get you, I had almost said forget ourselves, while we 
think of her ; that she is heir to every heart that is yet 
yours ; above all, that she is sure of an interest in that 
God whose arms are everlasting, whose presence is 
universal, and whose compassions never fail. He is 
the Creator of the ends of the earth, who fainteth not, 
neither is weary, and there is no searching his under- 
standing. Oh, sir, the time is hastening when these 
ways of his, which are now so unsearchable, shall ap- 
pear to have been marked out by the counsels of in- 
finite wisdom; and we, who may be left longest to 
lean upon and support one another by turns in this 
weary land, shall fix our feet on those everlasting hills 
where our joys shall never leave us, nor our vigor ever 
fail. Then, my dear friend, may we be one in that 
union which cannot be dissolved." 

From Sir Greorge, afterwards Lord Lyttelton, 

" Hagley, Oct. 5, 1751. 

" My concern was so great on the account I re- 
ceived from the Bishop of Worcester of your ill health, 
that in the midst of my grief for the death of my fa- 
ther, when I had scarcely performed my last duties to 
him, I wrote to you at Bristol, which letter, I find, 
you never received, Indeed, my dear friend, there 
are few losses I should more sensibly feel than yours, 
if it should please God to take you from me ; but I 
trust he will be so gracious to your family and your 



HIS LAST DAYS. 461 

friends as to prolong your life, and defer your reward 
for some time longer ; and I am persuaded no human 
means can be found better than those which have been 
prescribed to you of removing to Lisbon, and passing 
the winter in that mild climate ; only let me entreat 
you to lay by all studies while you are there, for too 
much application, and a very little in your state is 
too much, would frustrate the benefit which we may 
hope from the change of air. The complying with 
this injunction will be the best recompense you can 
make Mrs. Doddridge for all the obligations you owe 
to her ; and if I have any authority with you, as I flat- 
ter myself I have, I would employ it all to enforce 
this upon you, for I do verily think your life may de- 
pend on it. You have brought on your disease by too 
continual study and labor in your spiritual functions, 
and an entire remission of mind is absolutely neces- 
sary for your recovery. I therefore request it of you 
not to write the preface to Bower's book, it will do 
more harm to you than good to him ; the merit of the 
work will bear it up against all these attacks ; and as 
to the ridiculous story of my having discarded him, 
the intimate friendship in which we continue to live 
will be a sufficient answer to that, and better than 
any testimony formally given. 

" My poor father met death with so noble a firm- 
ness, and so assured a hope of a blessed immortality, 
that it has raised our thoughts above our grief, and 
fixed them much more on the example he has left us, 
than on the loss we have sustained. It is also a com- 
fort to us, that upon his body being opened, as he or- 
dered it should be, we found the cause of his violent 



462 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

pains was of such a nature as death alone could re- 
move or relieve. 

" Let me know by every mail how you do, and 
depend upon it that if Providence shall call you away 
to the crown prepared for you, nothing in my power 
shall be wanting, as long as I live, to show the affec- 
tion I had for you in my regard to your widow and 
family; but I hope your life will be preserved for 
their sake to be an ornament to the Christian church, 
and a support of religion in these bad times. May 
God Almighty grant it, and may we meet again with 
the pleasure which friends restored to each other feel 
after so alarming a parting. But if that be denied, 
may we meet in the next world to part no more, 
through His power, who will, I trust, blot out my of- 
fences, and make me worthy to be a partaker with 
you of his heavenly kingdom." 

Deeply was the sensitive heart of Doddridge af- 
fected by the various evidences of sympathy and kind- 
ness on the part of his numerous friends, which led 
him often to pour out his earnest thanksgivings to 
God, the source of all. " It would amaze you," he 
writes, "were I to enumerate the appearances of divine 
providence for us, in raising up for us many most affec- 
tionate friends, who have multiplied the instances of 
their civility and liberality in a manner that has been 
to me quite wonderful. This is a great encourage- 
ment to me to follow where such a God seems evi- 
dently to lead, though it be but a temporary exile. 
Who would not trust and hope in him ?" 

It is worthy of record, that during all the weeks 



HIS LAST DAYS. 463 

and months of his wearisome and painful illness, he 
exhibited the most admirable patience and cheerful- 
ness. He uttered no complaints ; breathed not a syl- 
lable of discontent ; maintained a serene and heavenly 
temper; obligingly acknowledged every favor, ren- 
dered even by servants, and showed his regard for 
their welfare by his pious counsels. His greatest 
source of trial was the prohibition of conversation, on 
account of the diseased state of his lungs, thus cutting 
him off from a form of usefulness in which he delight- 
ed, and greatly excelled. 

On Sept. 17, 1851, Dr. Doddridge commenced from 
Bristol his last journey. Ten days were occupied in 
reaching Falmouth, in Cornwall, owing to the bad- 
ness of the roads, unfavorable weather, and his own 
increasing debility. " As fancy sees the falling leaves 
and rain," writes Mr. Stoughton, " and hears the au- 
tumnal wind of that year, how they seem to drop and 
sweep with sad significance round the old-fashioned 
chariot and four which bears the languid frame of our 
dear Doddridge through the rough wet roads of Devon- 
shire ; we feel, as we ride along with him, as if the 
hearse were not far behind. Violent symptoms at the 
place of embarkation for Lisbon suggest the proposal, 
i Shall he return V He answers, ' The die is cast, and 
I choose to go.' We go with him on board the com- 
modious packet-boat secured for him by his friend 
Warburton, and as we are touched to the heart by 
the patience of the sufferer, we are equally affected 
with admiration at the heroism and tenderness of the 
brave-hearted woman, his faithful wife." 

These last remarks will be more fully appreciated 



464 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

by attending to the circumstance that the intense big 
otry and power of the Romish priests in Portugal at 
that period were well understood, and that should 
Dr. Doddridge become known to them as a Protes- 
tant minister, and as the author of the evangelical 
writings from his pen, some of which were circulating 
in Lisbon, both he and his friends might suffer greatly 
from their intolerance. 

His last letter in England, which was written at 
Falmouth, possesses a peculiar interest. The conclu- 
sion is as follows : " I have trespassed a great deal on 
your time, and a little on my own strength. I say a 
little; for when writing to such a friend, as I seem 
less absent from him, it gives me new spirits, and 
soothes my mind agreeably. Oh when shall we meet 
in that world where we shall have nothing to lament, 
and nothing to fear, for ourselves, or for each other, 
or any dear to us ? Let us think of this as a moment- 
ary state, and aspire more ardently after the blessings 
of that. If I survive my voyage, a line shall tell you 
how I bear it. If not, all will be well ; and, as good 
Mr. Howe says, I hope I shall embrace the wave, that, 
when I intended Lisbon, should land me in heaven. 
I am more afraid of doing wrong than of dying." 

His last Sabbath in England was passed, and on 
the day following, Sept. 30, he embarked for Lisbon, 
amid the tearful regrets and tender farewells of affec- 
tionate friends, and was soon conveyed from the shores 
of his native land, which he had loved and adorned 
and served so well. The change of scene, the pleasant 
sea-breeze, and a delightful frame of mind, at first con- 
tributed greatly to his bodily comfort. He had the 



HIS LAST DAYS. 465 

privilege of occupying the cabin of the captain, who 
for some reason did not go on the present voyage; 
and it proved a Bethel, the house of God, the gate of 
heaven. To his wife he several times conveyed the 
welcome intelligence, " I cannot express to you what 
a morning I have had ; such delightful and transport- 
ing views of the heavenly world is my Father now 
indulging me with as no words can express." Such 
gratitude to God shone in his devout and joyful coun- 
tenance, as brought vividly to her mind a stanza in 
one of his own excellent hymns : 

" When death o'er nature shall prevail, 
And all the powers of language fail ; 
Joy through my swimming eyes shall break, 
And mean the thanks I cannot speak." 

In the Bay of Biscay the vessel was detained by a 
calm for several exceedingly hot days, which com- 
pletely prostrated Dr. Doddridge, and threatened 
almost immediate death ; but as the weather changed, 
and a gentle breeze carried the vessel forward to the 
Tagus, he revived, and was enabled to survey with 
high gratification its romantic banks adorned with 
olive-yards, orange groves, and vineyards, until Lis- 
bon was reached, extending far on the river, and cov- 
ering the adjacent hills. The landing was made on 
the Sabbath, October 13, 1751. On the next day he 
wrote a few lines to his assistant at Northampton, 
giving a brief account of his voyage, describing the 
magnificent appearance of Lisbon from the sea, and 
some of the objects of interest observed in passing 
through it. After an allusion to his own great weak- 
ness and critical state, he adds, " Nevertheless, I bless 

20* 



466 



PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 



God the most undisturbed serenity continues in my 
mind, and my strength holds proportion to my day. 
I still hope and trust in God, and joyfully acquiesce 
in all he may do with me. When you see my dear 
friends of the congregation, inform them of my cir- 
cumstances, and assure them that I cheerfully sub- 
mit myself to God — if I desire life may be restored, 
it is chiefly that it may be employed in serving 
Christ among them ; that I am enabled to look upon 
death as an enemy that shall be destroyed ; and that 
I can cheerfully leave my dear Mrs. Doddridge a 
widow in this strange land, if such be the appoint- 
ment of our heavenly Father. I hope I have done 
my duty, and ' the Lord do as seemeth good in his 
sight/ " 

At Lisbon he was hospitably entertained by an 
English merchant, whose mother was connected with 
his congregation at Northampton, and had received, 
together with some of her relatives, special offices of 
kindness at the hands of Dr. Doddridge, so that he was 
now a welcome guest. Here he was glad to meet with 
the treatise of Dr. Watts " On the Happiness of Sep- 
arate Spirits," calling it " that blessed book f in the 
reading of which, and of Dr. Watts' hymns, and of 
the sacred volume, as strength was given him, he pass- 
ed many a delightful hour. Another worthy family, 
related to Mrs. Doddridge, and which, through friends 
in England, had been apprized of his visit to their 
city, called on him, and offered every accommodation 
and civility in their power. But on the week after 
his arrival, by the advice of his physician, he was re- 
moved to a retired residence, a few miles from Lisbon, 



HIS LAST DAYS. 467 

for the benefit of air and exercise ; the rainy season 
however, coming on with unusual violence, confined 
him to the house, and hastened his disease to a fatal 
crisis. A severe diarrhoea seized him on the 24th of 
October, and rapidly exhausted his remaining strength, 
yet his mind retained all its wonted serenity, cheerful- 
ness, and joy. To his devoted wife, who constantly 
attended upon him, he said that it had been his ear- 
nest supplication that she might receive divine com- 
fort and support ; that it had been his desire, if God 
so willed, to remain a little longer on earth to prose- 
cute the work of his beloved Lord and Master; but 
that now the only source of pain to him, in the thought 
of dying, was his apprehension of the distress and 
grief which his removal would occasion her. After a 
brief pause, he added, " But I am sure my heavenly 
Father w x ill be with you. It is a joy to me to think 
how many friends and comforts you are returning to. 
So sure am I that God will be with you and comfort 
you, that I think my death will be a greater blessing 
to you than my life hath ever been." 

He requested her to convey to his children, his 
people, and all his friends, his affectionate remem- 
brance, and expressed most benevolent regards for 
the family that surrounded him, and the servant that 
waited upon him. He renewed his covenant engage- 
ments with God, and expressed a cheerful hope of 
acceptance through divine mercy, in the blessed Re- 
deemer. The following day he passed in gentle sleep, 
which continued until about an hour before his disso- 
lution, on October 26, 0. S., 1751. 

It is mentioned by Mr. Orton, as a circumstance 



468 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

which afforded much satisfaction to Mrs. Doddridgi 



: : 



and her friends at Lisbon, that he was not molester 
in these last scenes, as they feared a person of his 
profession and character would have been, by any 
officious priests of the church of Rome; who, it is 
well known, are fond of intruding on such occasions, 
and had been the means of adding to the distress of 
many Protestant families in Lisbon and its environs, 
during the sickness and at the death of their rela- 
tions. 

It had been the long-cherished desire of Dr. Dod- 
dridge that his remains should rest in his own grave- 
yard at Northampton ; but during his last illness, he 
represented it as a matter of personal indifference, 
and expressed a wish that wherever he should die, he 
might be buried, and thus give as little trouble as 
possible to his surviving wife. In the present condi- 
tion of things the removal of his body to England 
would have been attended with great expense, and it 
was decided to inter it in the burying-ground belong- 
ing to the British factory at Lisbon. The Lisbon 
earthquake soon followed, but his grave remains to 
this day; and like. Henry Martyn's at Tocat, is to the 
Christian traveller a little spot of holy ground. A 
plain monument was placed over his grave. In 1828 
a beautiful tribute was paid to his memory by the Rev. 
Mr. Tayler, in causing a new and more suitable mar- 
ble monument to be erected, and substituted for the 
other, bearing the inscription, 

"Philip Doddridge, D. D., died October 26th, 
1751, aged 50." 

To this was subjoined, 



HIS LAST DAYS. 469 

" With high respect for his character and writings, 
this stone of remembrance was raised upon a former 
one in decay, in the month of June, 1828, at the desire 
and expense of Thomas Tayler, of all his numerous 
pupils the only one living." 

Duty and inclination demand that we should here 
add a few words relating to this, the last survivor of 
Doddridge's pupils, who, after having suffered blind- 
ness for several years, died in London, in November, 
1831, in his ninety-seventh year. He was born near 
Kidderminster in 1735, and belonged to the congre- 
gation of the excellent Benjamin Fawcett, to whom 
the reader has been already introduced, and by him 
was sent, at fifteen years of age, to study for the min- 
istry under Dr. Doddridge, a few months only before 
the death of that eminent man. His preparatory 
studies for the ministry were completed in the same 
institution, though removed to Daventry, under the 
direction of Dr. Caleb Ashworth, who had succeeded 
Dr. Doddridge as president of the academy. At the 
close of his studies he became for some years domestic 
chaplain to Mrs. Abney of Stoke Newington, the 
daughter of the Sir Thomas and Lady Abney to whom 
Dr. Watts was so much indebted. In 1766 Mr. Tay- 
ler became minister of the dissenting congregation in 
Carter lane, London, an office he usefully filled till 
May, 1811, when he resigned the pastoral charge. 
Especially in the closing years of his life he was most 
ardently attached to the great peculiarities of the gos- 
pel. About two years before his death, in conversa- 
tion with the late Rev. Dr. Winter, he unbosomed his 
soul. That gentleman had said, " In your circum- 



470 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

stances how great a blessing is the hope of the gos- 
pel." His reply was, "Yes, and I can truly say I 
rejoice in hope." After a pause, he added, " But it is 
a humble hope, I have no dependence on myself. It 
would be a poor hope indeed, if it were to rest on any 
thing which I have done in the way of merit. No ; 
all my hope rests on the mediation and sacrifice of my 
divine Redeemer, his atoning sacrifice. Some people 
profess to believe in the atonement, but they make no 
use of it. Now I look on the priesthood and sacrifice 
of the Son of God as the only ground to support those 
expectations which a covenant God has called forth 
in my heart." He added, " Whoever is right, I am 
sure, if the gospel be true, Socinians are wrong. And 
I see no material difference between them and Arians ; 
for without entering into minutiae which we cannot 
understand, Christ and the Father are one; and the 
Saviour's participation of the divine nature is that 
which gives efficacy to his sacrifice." He then ex- 
claimed, with great feeling, " Grace, grace : this is 
the sum and substance, and centre and source of sal- 
vation." On another occasion, speaking of the doc- 
trine of the atonement, he exclaimed, " The atonement! 
why, it is the foundation of the gospel, the key-stone 
of the arch, the only consolation of a poor sinner. 
Oh what should I do if there were no atonement?" 
Speaking to his own church, in his funeral-sermon for 
Mr. Tayler, Dr. Winter referred to the manner in 
which he had often communed with them at the Lord's 
supper : " With what deep and devout feelings, too 
much for his enfeebled frame, he joined in the service, 
we have witnessed with sympathy and delight. I can 



HIS LAST DAYS. 471 

never lose the impression produced on my mind, on 
hearing him as he sat by my side, with feeble lips and 
a faltering voice, but with peculiar energy of devotion 
the tears trickling down his cheeks, join in singing, at 
the commemorative table, that expressive stanza, 

" ' We see the blood of Jesus shed, 
Whence all our hopes arise ; 
The sinner views the atonement made, 
And loves the sacrifice.' " 

We are not surprised that such a man should se- 
lect, as the text of his funeral-sermon, " Christ in you 
the hope of glory." Col. 1 : 27. 






412 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

In the church edifice of Dr. Doddridge at North- 
ampton, a handsome monument was erected at the 
expense of the congregation, with the following ap- 
propriate inscription, prepared by his greatly esteem- 
ed friend and correspondent, Gilbert West, Esq., 
LL. D: 

So lb* JtUmorg 

OF 

PHILIP DODDRIDGE, D. D., 

TWENTY-ONE YEARS PASTOR OF THIS CHURCH, 
DIRECTOR OF A FLOURISHING ACADEMY, 

AND AUTHOR OF MANY EXCELLENT WRITINGS, 

BY WHICH 

HIS PIOUS, BENEVOLENT, AND INDEFATIGABLE ZEAL 

TO MAKE MEN WISE, GOOD, AND HAPPY, 

WILL FAR BETTER BE MADE KNOWN, 

AND PERPETUATED MUCH LONGER, 

THAN BY THIS OBSCURE AND PERISHABLE MARBLE ; 

THE HUMBLE MONUMENT, NOT OP HIS PRAISE, 

BUT OF THEIR ESTEExM, AFFECTION, AND REGARD, 

WHO KNEW HIM, LOVED HIM, AND LAMENT HIM, 

AND WHO ARE DESIROUS OF RECORDING, 

IN THIS INSCRIPTION, 

THEIR FRIENDLY BUT FAITHFUL TESTIMONY 

TO THE MANY AMIABLE AND CHRISTIAN VIRTUES 

THAT ADORNED HIS MORE PRIVATE CHARACTER J 

BY WHICH, THOUGH DEAD, HE YET SPEAKETH, 

AND STILL PRESENT IN REMEMBRANCE, 

FORCIBLY, THOUGH SILENTLY ADMONISHETH 

HIS ONCE BELOVED AND EVER GRATEFUL FLOCK. 

HE WAS BORN JUNE 26, 1702, 

AND DIED OCTOBER 26, 1751. 

AGED 50. 



HIS LAST DAYS. 4*73 

In person Dr. Doddridge was above the average 
standard of height, thin, and inclined to stoop. His 
voice was not naturally pleasant, but corresponded 
with the plain and manly dignity of his countenance. 
When, however, he became animated in conversation, 
or interested in his pulpit discussions, his vivacity and 
energy commanded general attention. Of his por- 
trait, taken August 11, 1750, about fourteen months 
before his decease, he writes, " Yesterday my picture 
was finished, and a good picture it is, though I think 
rather too young and handsome, but it is allowed to 
be in the main a good likeness." 

An early opportunity was taken by the bereaved 
widow to communicate to her children in England the 
tidings of their irreparable loss, in a letter which does 
great credit alike to her piety, intellectual culture, 
and maternal excellence: 

" Lisbon, October, 1751. 

"My dear Children — How shall I address you 
under this awful and melancholy providence ! I would 
fain say something to comfort you, and I hope God 
will enable me to suggest what may, in some measure, 
alleviate your distress. I went out in a firm depend- 
ence, that if infinite Wisdom pleased to call me out to 
duties and trials as yet unknown, He would grant me 
those superior aids of strength that would support and 
keep me from fainting under them — persuaded that 
there was no distress or sorrow into which he could 
lead me, under which his gracious and all-sufficient 
arm could not support me. He has not disappointed 
me, nor suffered the eyes and heart directed to him 
to fail. ' God all-sufficient and my only hope/ is my 



414 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

motto ; let it be yours. Such I have indeed found 
him, and such I verily believe you will find him, in 
this time of deep distress. 

"Oh, my dear children, help me to praise him. 
Such supports, such consolations, he has granted to 
one of the meanest and most unworthy of his crea- 
tures, that my mind is at times held in perfect aston- 
ishment, and is ready under its exquisite distress to 
burst out into songs of praise. 

"As to outward comforts, he has withheld no good 
thing from me, but has given me all the supports that 
the tenderest friendship was capable of affording me, 
in this time of great extremity, and which I think my 
dear Northampton friends could hardly have exceed- 
ed. Their prayers are not lost, and I doubt not but 
that I am reaping the benefit of them, and I hope my 
dear children will do the same. Such a solicitude of 
friendship was scarcely ever known as I meet with 
here ; I have more offers of kind service than I can 
employ, and it seems a real concern to many that they 
can find out no way to serve me. These are great 
honors conferred on the dear deceased, and great 
comforts to me. It is impossible to say how much 
these mercies are endeared by coming in such an im- 
mediate manner from the divine hand. To his name 
be the praise and glory of all. And now, my dear 
children, what shall I say to you? — ours is no common 
loss; I mourn the best of husbands and friends, re- 
moved from our world of sin and sorrow to the re- 
gions of immortal life and glory. What a mercy is it 
that my thoughts are enabled with joy to pursue him 
thither. You have lost, my dear children, the dear- 



HIS LAST DAYS. 475 

est and the best of parents, the guide of your youth, 
and whose pleasure it would have been to have intro- 
duced you with advantage into the world. Great, 
indeed, is our loss, and yet I really think the loss the 
public have sustained is still greater. I am ready to 
say, 'The glory is departed ; 7 but God will never want 
instruments to carry on his work. Let us be thank- 
ful that God ever gave us such a friend, and that he 
continued him so long, though every hour and day 
has only tended the more to endear him to us. In- 
deed, had we been to judge, we should have thought 
that neither we nor the world could ever less have 
spared him than at the present time. But I see the 
hand of Heaven, the appointment of his wise providence 
in every step of this awful dispensation. It is his 
hand that has put into ours this bitter cup ; and what 
does he now expect from us? a meek, humble, and en- 
tire submission to his will : we know this is our duty ; 
let us pray for those aids of his grace which may en- 
able us to attain it. A father of the fatherless is God 
in his holy habitation. As such may our eyes be di- 
rected to him ; he will support and comfort you : that 
he may, is not only my daily, but my hourly prayer. 

"We have never deserved so great a good as that 
which we have lost, and let us remember that the best 
respect we can pay to his memory, is to endeavor, as 
far as we can, to follow his example, and to cultivate 
those lovely qualities which rendered him so justly 
dear to us, and so much esteemed in the world. 

"It is impossible for me to say how tenderly my 
heart feels for you all, how much I long to be with 
you, to comfort and assist you. Indeed, this is the 



476 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

only inducement I have now left to wish for life, that 
I may do what lies in my power to form and guide 
your tender youth. For this purpose I take all pos- 
sible care of my health, eat, drink, sleep, and converse 
at times with tolerabte cheerfulness. You, my dear 
children, as the best return you can make, will do 
the same, that I may not have sorrow upon sorrow. 
The many kind friends you have around you will not, 
I am sure, be wanting in giving you all the assistance 
and comfort in their power. My kindest salutations 
attend them all. 

"I hope to leave this place in about fourteen or 
twenty days, but fear that I cannot reach Northamp- 
ton in less than six weeks or two months ; may God 
be with you, and give us, though it must be a mourn- 
ful, yet a comfortable meeting. For your sake I trust 
my life will be spared ; and I bless God my mind is 
under no painful anxiety as to the difficulties and 
dangers of the voyage before me. The winds and 
the waves are in his hands, to whom I cheerfully re- 
sign myself, and all that is dearest to me. I know I 
shall have your prayers, and those of my dear friends 
with you. 

"Farewell, my dear children; your afflicted but 
most sincere friend, and ever affectionate mother, 

"M. DODDRIDGE." 

In consequence of her husband's dying abroad, 
Mrs. Doddridge lost a considerable annuity which he 
had provided for her in case of widowhood ; but among 
his friends in London a subscription was promptly 
filled through the kind and zealous efforts of Mr. 



HIS LAST DAYS. 477 

Neal, which secured to her a larger sum than the 
annuity which had been forfeited. 

In memory of Dr. Doddridge, one of his later pu- 
pils, the Rev. Henry Moore, prepared a poem, which 
Mr. Orton in his Memoir has preserved, and which 
contains the following lines : 

" Who to the temple of eternal truth 
Shall guide with skilful care our wandering youth ? 
O'er darkened science shed unclouded day, 
And strew with flowery sweets the thorny way? 
Quenched is our prophet's fire : those lips no more 
Religion's pure and sacred treasures pour ; 
To holy rapture wake the languid frame, 
And through the breast impart celestial flame. 
No more o'er guilty minds he shakes the rod, 
Armed with the awful terrors of his God ; 
While, chilled with horror, starts the conscious soul, 
And hears appalled the avenging thunder roll." 

In the diary of the excellent President Davies, 
who visited England in 1754, on behalf of the college 
of Princeton, we find some very happy references to 
Dr. Doddridge and his amiable widow. In August of 
the year to which we have referred, Dr. Davies says, 
"August 11, preached in Dr. Doddridge's pulpit; and 
the sight of his monument with a very significant in- 
scription, struck my mind with uncommon energy. 
The congregation is decreased since the doctor's 
death, as they can find none to supply his place fully. 
Monday, went in company with Mr. Warburton and 
Mr. Wilkinson to make private applications among 
the people, and received about sixteen pounds, of 
which Mrs. Doddridge procured me three guineas. 
Dined with her, and found her conversation animated 



478 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

with good sense and piety. She remembered me as 
a correspondent of l the dear deceased/ as she calls 
the doctor, and treated me with uncommon friendship. 
I was surprised that she could talk of him with so 
much composure, notwithstanding her flowing affec- 
tions. She told me she never had a more comfortable 
season, than when returning from Lisbon, on the 
boisterous ocean, after the doctor's death." 

Writing the day after, of his leaving Northamp- 
ton, he says, "Spent an hour with dear Mrs. Dod- 
dridge, and at her request, parted with prayer, in which 
I found my heart much enlarged. She made a re- 
mark that has often occurred to me since, that 'she 
rejoiced that the dear deceased was called to the tri- 
bunal of his Master with a heart full of such generous 
schemes for the good of mankind, which he had zeal 
to project, though not life to execute/ May this be 
my happy case." 

It would justly be regarded as a great deficiency, 
were we to close our narrative without subjoining at 
least a brief sketch of the subsequent history of Dod- 
dridge's family. This we can most concisely and sat- 
isfactorily give in the words of Mr. Stoughton, who, 
having spoken of the Christian magnanimity with 
which Mrs. Doddridge bore the heavy trial laid upon 
her by the death of her husband in a land of stran- 
gers, adds : 

" She soon returned to her desolate house, and de- 
voted herself, with characteristic energy and wisdom, 
to the formation of the character of her four surviv- 
ing children. They had from their infancy been 
mainly dependent upon her instruction and influence, 



HIS LAST DAYS. 479 

their father's numerous public engagements having 
interfered with the maintenance of much parental 
oversight and instruction on his part. The son was 
sixteen years of age at the time of his father's death ; 
when he was sent to Dr. Ashworth ; s academy to study 
for the ministry. Letters still preserved show, that 
before his studies were completed he became conscious 
the ministry was not the office to which he was called, 
and relinquishing his early prospects, and disappoint- 
ing, probably, a mother's hope, he adopted the study 
of the law. Miss Doddridge was married to John 
Humphreys, Esq., of Tewkesbury, to which town Mrs. 
Doddridge retired with her two unmarried daughters, 
Mary and Anna Cecilia. This excellent lady lived 
to a good old age, distinguished by noble qualities of 
mind and heart, and after passing through fresh do- 
mestic trials in her last days, entered her everlasting 
rest in 1790, at the age of eighty-two. Her children 
seem all to have been possessed of vigorous minds, 
and in this respect to have inherited their mother's 
endowments; especially Mary, whose mental qualities 
were evidently of a very superior order. She died 
at Bath in 1809, at the age of seventy-five." 

To some of our readers it may be gratifying to 
read the following lines, written by the Rev. Dr. 
Leask of London in the study of Doddridge, in 1852, 
more than a century after his decease : 

"This is true reverence. Honor to the heart 
That loves the relics of the illustrious dead ; 
And blessings on the hand that will not touch, 
Even to 'improve' what he once called his ownl 



480 PHILIP DODDRIDGE. 

So let it be. The prophet's table stands 

Just where he left it ; every thing remains 

In undisturbed simplicity : there needs 

No costly monument ; this room says all : 

Here Philip Doddridge thought. Tis lasting fame. 

These walls are sacred. Often have they felt 

The holy breath of prayer, and echoed back 

To the devout petitioner, ' Amen!' 

As if an angel whispered the response. 

And angels have been here, the witnesses 

Of hallowed meditation. They beheld 

1 The rise and progress ' of a stream of thought 

Whose living energy hath prostrated 

Thousands of spirits at the feet of Christ. 

Here the first dawning of the morning found 

The student of the statute-book of heaven, 

With loving perseverance tracing out 

The ' harmony ' of God's evangelists ; 

And here the Lord of angels oft has sent 

Deep draughts of joy, and glorious beams of hope, 

To him who wrote, while love inspired the pen, 

1 I live in pleasure while I live to thee.' 



tfov.lM** 1 ; 



H 57 82 

















• * ^' 






o^ '. .t. •' A o' V " * ^~» •* .^ 






1 *'*°' *^> V^ V *L^L% 









.• > U V V 





o' 



JO • 




*bV 







^ ''♦7P*%* r ^ ^ • Deacidlfied using the Bookkeeper process. 

( m ^ * • A U +i> Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 

<s> w * «p c i • \J^» CV Treatment Date: March 2006 








PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 

1 1 ^ Thomson Park Dnve 
Cranberry Township. PA 16066 



(724)779-2111 



: 




<. <» ♦'TV.' 









°c 



W 




"*V 



*^ v • 







iP^K 'J 



^ 




W 








: ^6* 



o5°^ .1 



V >°^ . 







A°« 



fr ... 








*°-v. 



f\ v - t • 



^ • 




^<?fc . 










